Pioneers of Paradise
by Hurricane's Quill
Summary: Reverse SI. A mysterious incident blends worlds together, and fates are now intertwined. Ruby and friends must now place their trust in a high-strung writer and his siblings to survive the chaos of their new surroundings, and he in them to save the world from the rampaging Grimm.
1. Chapter 1

**Lo! After a long absence from writing, I return in glory!**

 **This is a fanfic I started writing on SpaceBattles some time ago and had left alone for the last few months due health issues piling up in the last year or so. Most people around here know what they are and what I've had to go through.**

 **So, here you all go.**

* * *

When my grandmother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer a couple of years before she died, she and my grandpa bought a cabin up near Big Bear Lake together. According to my grandpa, she wanted a place like that so she could be reminded of her old home back in Arkansas. It's a nice, quaint little place off the main road, and whenever it snows, the road's one of the first to get cleared. I'd only been up here in the snowy months once, and it certainly looked nice. It'd probably look nicer with more snow than what we had, but I couldn't enjoy it. Because little did I know, that was the beginning of one of the biggest fights of my life.

But that's not the story you want to hear about.

No, I know what story you want to read.

And that story starts in the same place, and starts with me chasing my dog through the neighborhood at 8000 feet.

"Molly!"

Molly is one of the three dogs we have, a black setter-spaniel mix. She's getting up in age, but if you let her get out of the house without a leash in the morning she could be halfway across the state by midday. So there I was, garbed in plaid pajama pants, a purple Relay For Life shirt, my lucky black suede jacket, and red tennis shoes, chasing a dog through sloping roads way too early in the morning for my liking.

Oh, and did I mention it's also roughly 45 or so degrees outside right now? And I live in the desert. Put two and two together.

I follow Molly's last known trajectory up the road and down another, which is the way we take to go into town if we need to get supplies or food or whatever, and finally I find her sniffing up a tree on the corner. I slow my pace down, trying to stay quiet so I can snag her from behind and get her leashed before she goes running off again. After checking to make sure no cross-traffic would run me over, I make my move. I slink across the road and reach out to grab her collar…

And she doesn't even notice me hooking her up. She's too preoccupied with smelling the tree.

"Okay, you. Mom already walked you once, you're not getting another one," I say to Molly, but as I'm saying this, I happen to see something on the tree. Claw marks. Four massive claw marks dragging their way down the tree.

Now, being in the mountains, it's not unheard of to have bears and mountain lions roaming around. But bears and mountain lions will typically keep their distance. And most of them probably don't have claws that can dig several inches deep into a pine tree. Molly is still sniffing the tree, probably wondering what it was that could inflict such a thing. I reach into my jacket pocket and snap a photo of it with my phone, and then start pulling Molly away from the tree.

"Let's go, Molly, I'm not about to skip breakfast for you," I said, but as I start to turn around to head back the way we came, but as I do, spot something else further down the road.

A body.

I lead Molly away from the tree towards the body, keeping my phone out just in case I had to report it to the police. But as I got closer to the slumped figure on the ground, I find something I hadn't quite expected to find on the ground at my feet.

A large red and black two-handed scythe.

Wait. I'd seen this thing before. Is this what I think it is?

Molly sniffs at the scythe as well, and then goes right for the body, sniffing it as well. She nearly pulls my arm out of my socket doing it, too.

"Gah! Molly-!"

"...muuuuuh...Zwei, it's too early..."

Zwei?

Wait. Zwei. Scythe. I look over and our mystery body is clad in a black and red dress, has red and black hair (albeit with some dead pine needles on top due to where she'd been sleeping), combat boots, and a long red shroud. Put them together and what do you get?

I rub at my eyes. I'm dreaming, right? I'm probably still asleep, and when I wake up, I'll be in my bed, and the first thing I'll see is my laptop, because I went to sleep watching the LCK stream on YouTube. But no. There's still a black and red-clad body on the ground (and my dog is now licking her face), and there's still a scythe on the ground behind me. I look down at my phone, and the claw mark picture is still there.

"Zwei, stop it, I'm up-" The girl sits up, and finds she's talking to Molly. She follows Molly's leash to me, looking up with silver eyes.

Zwei. Scythe. Silver eyes. Black and red dress.

Yup. It's Ruby Rose. Or someone dressed like her.

"Good morning."

It's the only thing my brain allows me to say around it short-circuiting. She can't be the real deal. I'd seen where this storyline goes a dozen times, joked about it with my fellow writers, called it bad storytelling. And yet, here is Ruby Rose, straight out of RWBY, in the middle of the neighborhood in Big Bear City, Crescent Rose and all. For a moment, we just stare at each other. Then I look behind me, back to where said scythe was, and went back to go pick it up.

And immediately regret it, because it's all metal. And metal tends to be heavy.

"I think – this is yours-"

"Ruby" quickly stands up and scoops up her weapon. Even without her Semblance, she's wicked fast on her feet. And almost just as quickly, the weapon begins folding in on itself with mechanical precision and anime fluidity, going into its carrying mode. I didn't see her hit a switch or anything, it just neatly compresses itself, and she attaches it to her back holster. "Yup! Thank you!"

Silence falls between us again.

"...so...you gonna tell me why you're on the side of the road?" I ask.

"Ruby" rubs at her head. "I don't...know...the whole night was a blur..."

I hold out the picture of the tree on my cell phone to her. "Maybe this will help?"

"Ruby" took my cell phone, staring at the claw marks. "Oh yeah! ...I'm pretty sure I killed it...and I guess I was just so tired I just kinda fell asleep on the ground..."

I suppress a shudder. A Grimm, here. I don't even want to know what that would cause right now. Also, she seriously slept out here during the night? How is she not half-frozen? There weren't any clouds out last night, but it definitely would've been cold enough for snow if there was. "Oh...good...what's your name?"

"Ruby" sticks out her hand. "I'm Ruby! Ruby Rose!"

"Ruby, okay. I'm Ryan. This is Molly," I said, gesturing to Molly. She's been sniffing Ruby non-stop since she woke up. This is becoming even more surreal. "...you got a place to stay up here?" Maybe she's a cosplayer and she happens to live around here for some reason.

"Where is here?" She actively looks confused. That's not a good sign.

"Big Bear City."

Ruby blinks, looking around at the neighborhood around her. "...um..."

"You don't know where Big Bear City is?"

"...am I still in Vale, at least?"

That's _definitely_ not the answer I was looking for. "I'm gonna say...probably not." Ruby moans and slumps back down to the ground. "Are you alone at all?"

"No, I was with my friends, but...I don't know where they are...I don't have any idea where I am...I'm cold and I'm hungry..."

I check the time on my watch. Mom's probably already done cooking breakfast, but I'm not sure if she's going to be particularly enthused about cooking for an extra person. I don't want to actually ask, but I know if I bring her unannounced, she's going to be even madder. This could go horribly wrong, and my track record with trusting people hasn't always been the greatest. But whether or not this Ruby Rose is the real deal or just some method cosplayer, I just can't ignore this.

"Hold on a sec." I dig up Mom's number on my phone and call it.

" _Hello?_ "

"Hi Mom. I found Molly."

" _And?_ "

"...well..."

* * *

I knew taking Ruby home with me and Molly was going to require some navigating I probably didn't have, but I at least had a chance to come up with a cover story, because "sniper-rifle-scythe-wielding student monster killer that I found unconscious on the side of the road" is going to raise more than a few eyebrows. So, for the moment, Ruby is a friend of mine, one of the many I have online, who I ran into while I was chasing down Molly in the neighborhood, and invited her to breakfast. Everything else is basically half-truths based on her own stuff.

Simple, right?

Well, this is me we're talking about, so of course it's not simple.

Add the fact that breakfast chocolate chip pancakes, and my job becomes infinitely harder, because Ruby absolutely went to town on those. While I'm glad I found Ruby and not, say, Nora, I can already feel the heavy sensation of dread hanging around my stomach along with my own pancakes. And so, we were out on the back porch, the two of us staring down expectant looks from my mom, my dad, and my three siblings as Ruby wolfs down another round of pancakes.

"So, Ruby, what are you doing currently?" Mom asks. "Are you in school?"

"She's a student," I reply.

"Oh. Where at?" asks Dad.

"Beacon Academy-" Ruby says.

"San Bernardino," I say at the same time.

 _Crap._

"Never heard of Beacon before..." Dad observes. "What's it do?"

"It's a special program for biology majors they started offering on main campus," I bluffed.

"Oh! That probably means you know Ariana," Dad says.

"Who?" asks Ruby.

 _Double crap._ I forgot one of our friends was also a biology major at the same school, studying to become a mortician. Dad's knack for overextending on small talk is a pain in the ass I don't want to field right now. "I don't _think_ so..."

"Sorry, I only started last year..." Ruby, thankfully, also tries to dodge the question.

"Oh," Dad nods. "I guess that would mean you two don't cross paths all that much."

Ruby laughs it off, but she's already on edge and I'm scrambling for a topic changer. Mom then asks, "Who are you here with? Your family?"

I saw Ruby's eyes widen as she is suddenly struck with something, and I quickly try to step in. "Natch. Why would she not be?"

"Well, I mean, it's nice that you wanted to introduce us to one of your friends, Ryan, but you really didn't have to pull her away from her family just for this."

"Mom-!" Is Mom really trying to guilt-trip me right now?

"It's not a problem, really! I'm usually the first one up, so they probably won't even know I'm gone!"

"It's almost 9:30. Does your whole family sleep in?"

"Well, my uncle Qrow does, anyway..." Ruby looks like she wants to fold into herself right now. I know the feeling; one person with social anxiety was bad enough, two was worse, and then separate one from their family, team, and her whole world through God-knows-how or why? Of course she's going to flounder for a bit when asked questions like this.

And then I remember that I was the one who brought her into this.

 _Triple crap. I've made a grave mistake, bringing her here. Good job, Ryan. You're a class-A jackass._

"How...old are you?" Dad suddenly asks.

"Fifteen." Ruby blurts.

Instantly everyone else takes a short scoot back at the revelation, and Ruby and I both share a look of alarm.

 _Cover blown! Quadra crap!_

"Fifteen and already in college?" Dad continues, oblivious to what was just dropped."That's _really_ impressive."

"Wait, college?" Ruby asks, looking at me. I had told her to let me do most of the talking, but my web of lies has already come undone and it's not even fifteen minutes in!

"Wait, so are you in college or not?" asks Sarah, one of my sisters.

"Does it matter?" I ask, trying to stop the flood of questions that's surely inbound after Ruby's slip-up. But as I start grabbing utensils and plates on the pretense of cleaning up, Mom sticks her arm out to block my escape.

"Hold on, Ryan. One more question."

 _Penta crap!_ _Abort! Abort!_

"Mom, she's already answered enough-"

"No, this one's for you. Does she know how old you are?"

My blood instantly goes cold. And Ruby's looking from Mom to me and becoming more distressed by the minute. I desperately pray to God that she doesn't try to answer-

"I'm guessing he's in his twenties…?"

"Oh yes. Very much so," Mom said.

"You're a creep!" Sarah yells at me.

"You're a pedophile!" adds my other sister, Regan.

"What are they talking about, Ryan?" Ruby asks me.

I sigh, make my way back to her, and mumble in her ear, "I'm twenty-eight. You're fifteen. And they think we're dating."

Ruby's face instantly goes as red as her shroud as she tries to hide her head in her hood. "What!? No! It's not like that, I swear!"

"Suuuure it is," says Regan.

"Don't smile when you say that!" I snap at her.

"Ryan!"

"Mom, we're not together! For God's sake-!"

"O- _kay_ , I think this has gone on long enough," Dad finally restores order, also standing up from his chair. "Anyone else want more breakfast? 'cause I'm getting more pancakes."

Everyone begins gathering their plates and utensils, leaving me standing outside with Ruby, who's probably about ready to burst into tears at how horribly this all fell apart. I think about wanting to comfort her, but decide against wanting to actually incriminate myself. So, I go back into the cabin, dump everything in the sink, ignore my mother's protests to actually clean up, grab a bottle of Dr. Pepper and Captain Morgan and dump a shot of both into a cup.

"Ryan, are you seriously-" asks Sarah.

"Yes! And no, I'm not making one for Ruby, because I'm not stupid. Now piss off and leave us alone!" I take my cup and head right back out on the porch, grumbling to myself. " _Pour me something tall and strong...make it a Hurricane before I go insane...it's half-past-one but I don't care...it's five o'clock somewhere._ "

Ruby, who's not left her seat at all, slowly turns her head towards me. "...are you seriously twenty-eight?"

I don't answer and instead down a shot of my ersatz Cuba Libre.

* * *

 _Ruby_

So, that's how I was introduced to the family: as Ryan's secret online underage girlfriend.

I was about ready to leave, just to spare us both any more questions or accusations, but then I remembered that I didn't know where I was. I pull out my scroll, and sigh as the words "NO SIGNAL" appear. I'm all alone in some city I've never heard, I've got no way to talk to anyone I know, and my friends could be anywhere in the world, and I'd never know where they are. I know I haven't exactly endeared myself to anyone here, but this is probably the best place for me to be right now.

What do I do?

What would Yang do?

What would Weiss do?

...I'm actually trying to channel Weiss for help. I'd say it's kind of silly, but if anyone would have an idea of what to do in this situation, it's probably Weiss.

"Hey."

I look up from my seat on the couch in the living room. Ryan has changed into jeans and a black shirt with a gray bird symbol with three triangles, and he's carrying a black and silver laptop. He was in a pretty bad mood for much of the morning after breakfast, but it seems like he's better now. His eyes flick back towards the porch, and we head outside again.

Quick segue way, but Ryan is huge. His sisters are just a little taller than me, but he and his brother Danny are both a foot taller than I am, and he's got a fuller beard than uncle Qrow. His hair is dark brown, almost black, and pretty short, like he had it shaved at some point and it was still growing back. It was kind of strange, but he was also wearing a hat when we met back on the road, so I wouldn't have guessed his hair looked like that.

"Sorry about breakfast. That did not _nearly_ go the way I wanted it to go," he said.

"Me too. They don't really think we're dating, do they?"

"I wouldn't worry about it. I think we were all getting our signals mixed back there because I brought a fifteen-year-old to breakfast. Not exactly a message you want to send to your parents. But I'm pretty sure they've calmed down. At least, that's the hope."

I laugh a little. "Fair point."

Ryan takes a seat on the table. I take the one next to him. He wipes his glasses on the edge of his shirt. "Anyway, to brass tacks. There's a lot going on here and I want to get an idea of what exactly happened, especially if you're here and there's Grimm running around."

"What do you mean?"

Ryan pauses, trying to piece his words together. "Well, you obviously have no idea where you are, you were fighting a Grimm you can't account for, and you woke up on the side of the road to a guy in his PJs and his rogue dog. Not exactly a typical thing to see anywhere, even on a Saturday morning. Something had to happen to get you here, and maybe it lines up with stuff that happened on my end."

I stare out over the backyard, trying to think. What _were_ we doing? Even if it was only yesterday, it seems like forever ago.

"We were gearing up for the Vytal Festival...Professor Ozpin actually brought us in to help clear out some of the Grimm left over from the breach at Mountain Glenn that the Atlas soldiers may have missed."

"A mop-up operation, then?" Ryan asks.

"That's what Weiss called it, anyway," I nod. "She said they probably wanted to make sure they didn't have any Grimm roaming around town with so many people coming over. So we head out with Jaune and his team, and I think there may have been a few others...anyway, we head out, and sure enough there's a bunch of these Beowulves in one particular building. They're like great big wolves, but they walk on two feet."

Ryan's eyes flash with recognition for a moment. "Okay. Continue."

"Thing was, these were different. Grimm tend to be pretty uniform, and the only Grimm that I knew were different had a green glow to them. But there was something off about them, and I couldn't put my finger on it. So I convinced the others to help me look around, maybe find some clues. Weiss said we should let Professor Oobleck handle that, but..."

"Still went anyway."

"Kind of. Blake's friend Sun helped us dig around for stuff on the building we found them in and..." My head starts to hurt. "I...I don't know...all I remember was busting in the door, everyone's fighting, and then I look up and there's this...crack in the sky..."

"A crack in the sky?" Ryan asks. He opens his laptop. "Tell me about it."

"It was...pretty, but it didn't look like an aurora...or maybe it did? I don't know, it was just so weird. Then the fighting started again, I just saw this flash and then...I wake up and see you and Molly there."

Ryan nods slowly. He's chewing on the end of a capped pen as he types away for a moment, then spins the laptop to face me, showing me a picture. "Did this crack in the sky look anything like this?"

"...yes!" I nod. "It was colorful, but it wasn't wavy like Weiss says you see in Atlas in the winter. It was literally a crack in the sky...how did you find this?"

"The infinite power of Google," Ryan says with a wry grin. "...also, this." His finger traces the trackpad, and the image turns into what looks like a news article.

 _ **Mysterious Rainbow Aurora Appears In Atmosphere, Scientists Scrambling For Answers**_

"Coincidence? Looking a lot less like it to me," he adds.

I look from Ryan to the article. "...can I…?"

"Be my guest."

I immediately start reading.

At approximately 3:00 AM, Big Bear City was graced with the appearance of an aurora borealis-esque event in the night sky, but apparently it was not alone. Multiple reports of similar events have appeared and even similar images have surfaced in cities worldwide. The event persisted for about thirty minutes before it finally dissipated. A spokesperson at NASA confirmed that the sightings did disrupt communications with satellites during that time, which also affected GPS signals and other satellite-based systems, but were restored when the event ended. While they did say they were exploring the event's origins, any further comment was declined.

My head's spinning with all sorts of ideas. Ryan seemed to be convinced in his theory, and it's hard not to see why. Two people from different parts of the world, seeing the same thing at maybe the same time is always a flag that goes up in my head in every book I've ever read. As I re-read the article, I finally spin a spinner in my head and it lands on my first question. "What's NASA?"

Ryan leans back a little in his chair, surprised. "You know...NASA. They study stars, the universe, launch rockets into space. The guys who put a man on the moon, you know."

"Wait, you actually found a way to put people on the moon!?"

"Only ever did it a few times, and that was decades ago, but yes."

"Oh, that is so cool..." I breathe. None of the Kingdoms, even Atlas, had even gotten close to achieving something like that, and apparently these guys pulled it off years ago! I gotta learn more about that, but that'll have to wait.

Ryan chuckles. "Never pegged you for the scientific type."

"Not really, I'm just surprised you could do that…" Okay. Next question. "So...even you guys don't know what caused the whole cracks-in-the-sky thing, either."

"The story's barely a day old and it only lasted thirty minutes. If anyone's doing anything to study it, they probably know as much as the two of us right now," Ryan says. "We'll need to let time tell the tale there..." He leans forward, staring at the article before turning back to me. "So now comes my next question: what do we do now?"

"Huh?"

"Well, obviously we're not gonna get any answers to how you got here, or why, any time soon," Ryan removes the pen from his mouth, tapping it on the table. "Add the fact that we're only going to be staying up here for the weekend, and-"

"Wait, what? Don't you live here?"

"No. This place is more of a vacation home my grandpa owns," Ryan shakes his head. "We actually live down in the valley, about two hours away. And we can't stay because everyone's gotta go back to work on Monday..."

This is totally not what I want to hear. How on earth am I supposed to figure out anything if the only person who can take care of me has to leave me after a few days? "But...what about me? I've got nowhere else to go. I don't have any money, I don't even have any clothes! Or a towel! Don't you need a towel for this kind of thing!?"

"Whoa, whoa," Ryan puts his hand on my shoulder. "We'll figure this out, just…slow down and breathe, Turbo." I nod and try to calm myself down. "As I was saying, we may only be here for a few days, but as long as I'm here with you, I'll try to help you any way I can, limited as it is. Which is why if we're gonna do this, we need to have a plan to make the most of the time we have."

I nod again. "So...what should we do first?"

Ryan thinks for a moment, sticking the pen back in his mouth. "Were you with your friends before you got here? Like, where were you all in the moment before that flash that led you here?"

"We were all fairly close, I think...why?"

Ryan's head bounces around a couple times as he muses on my answer. "Well, I'm not an expert on world-hopping, but if you were all together before you came here, it wouldn't be far-fetched to at least suggest they're not that far away from here. We just have to find a good method to start looking."

"How can you be so sure?" I ask him.

Ryan shrugs. "I'm not. But in the absence of certainty, hope is the next best thing. Nothing wrong with cautious optimism, is all I'm saying."

His tone's shifted to something...what's the word? Colloquial? It's the kind of thing I'd expect Yang to say, but it sounds weird, like's been trying to coach himself to say that lately. Did something happen to him recently? Then I notice that there's a small plastic cup with a couple of pills in it next to his laptop. Ryan sees where my eyes are and quickly downs them, pulling a face as he does.

"So where do you think we should start looking?"

Ryan's eyes flicker upwards, then down at the clock on his laptop. It's almost noon. "...how do you feel about eating out for lunch?"

I give him a look. "I thought we were trying to _avoid_ making it look like we were dating."

Ryan merely grins and taps the side of his nose as he gets up, taking his laptop and phone with him. "Well, yeah. But there are other ways to get your hands on a car." I follow him back into the cabin to his Dad, who's got his tablet out and is in one of the two recliners in the living room. "Dad?"

"Yes?" Ryan's dad looks up from his tablet.

"I just got a text from Ruby's folks, they invited me to lunch at Del Taco so they could come get her," Ryan holds up his phone.

"Really?" I didn't see his phone go off. He gives me a look, and I realize what he's doing. "Oh yeah! I mean, it's only fair, considering he brought me here for breakfast."

His dad raises an eyebrow. "Okay…?"

"So I was going to ask if I could take one of the cars to go do that," said Ryan.

His father tilts his head, considering it.

"They can't just come here to come get her?" Ryan's mom asks from the kitchen.

"And then have you try to mince words with them for letting Ruby date a guy in his late twenties on the sly? I'm sure they'd take that real _swell_ ," Ryan counters. "Or are you just jealous it's Del Taco?"

"We're gluten-free! Of course we're jealous of you going anywhere we can't go," says Regan from her position on the couch.

"What's gluten-free?" I whisper to Ryan.

"I'll tell you on the way," he replies.

Dad looks from Mom to me to Ruby. "You sure you're going to be fine driving there?"

"It's not that far away and the roads are fairly stable once you hit the main road. I think we'll be okay."

"It's been a year since you've driven anywhere, even with someone else. Are you sure?"

"It's like riding a bicycle. Besides, I've got Ruby for a copilot," Ryan responds coolly. I want to ask what she meant by that, but Ryan makes a slight gesture with his hand and I say nothing.

Dad finally nods to himself. "Alright. Keys are in the bowl next to the garage."

Ryan grins. "Thank you."

"Do you need money?"

"I've got money if I need it."

"Alright. Be safe, you two."

I give a relived sigh as Ryan takes something out of a bowl resting on a china cabinet, then we head out through the back porch and out the gate towards the driveway. Then he opens the trunk of one of the cars, for some reason. "Okay. Before we go, Ruby, I need you to stick your weapon in here."

"...huh? Why?"

"Well, here's what I was thinking: there's not a lot we could do trying to search for them on our own, and we're not exactly equipped to be going off searching for them just between the two of us," Ryan explains, grabbing a darned blue blanket from the back seat. "We need extra eyes. A lot of them. So, I figure it's in our best interest to go to the police station to start our search."

"What does that have to do with Crescent Rose?"

"I'll put it like this: weapons are a _very_ touchy subject at the moment, and the last thing we need is the police finding out there's a fifteen-year-old girl with a deadly weapon in town. It's just...not something we want to deal with. So put it in the trunk so no one can see it."

This is all very confusing. Why would people be so iffy about weapons here? I mean, sure, not everyone in Remnant is usually armed like me or the others and there are plenty of criminals with them (Roman Torchwick and White Fang come to mind), but he makes it sound like _I'm_ dangerous. I'm not that dangerous, at least not to innocent people. My job's to protect those people from the Grimm, right? So...why?

Ryan folds his arms. He's not budging. "Ruby, please-"

"Okay, fine." I unholster Crescent Rose and put it down in the trunk. Ryan takes the blanket and covers it, then slams it closed.

"Good. I know it's stupid, but it's for the best. Now let's go," Ryan said.

I can only nod as I get in the passenger seat. There's something about what he said that just...feels weird. What is he not telling me?

* * *

 _Ryan_

I know I said driving a car was like riding a bicycle, but the thing is, I've never driven on these roads before, so that made the whole trip to the police station a bit more intimidating than it should have been. I kept looking at Ruby whenever we reached a stoplight just to make sure she wasn't getting nervous by proxy. Or at least more than she already was, because of what we'd potentially (not) learn about what was happening, or maybe what I was talking about when I told her to put Crescent Rose in the trunk because "weapons were touchy."

That was mostly a precautionary measure on my part. As my grandpa was once a cop and I'd studied in the public service academy in high school, I know a few things about the law and how police work. As long as the weapon stays in carry mode and it's covered by the blanket in the trunk, they won't get suspicious. Even if they were, they'd have no probable cause to search without a warrant.

One could call it paranoia. I call it not wanting to get Ruby arrested. Again, she's a minor with a high-powered firearm in a country grappling with issues of people getting guns that _really_ shouldn't. That kind of combination will raise eyebrows, even if Ruby is not the kind of person we should be worried about, and even though she didn't know that I knew Crescent Rose was also a sniper rifle, I couldn't take the risk.

We finally arrive at our destination, a one-story building in the shelter of some pine trees not far from the main business district. It's a cloudy afternoon, and chilly. I park the car, and then turn to Ruby. "You have a picture of your friends?"

Ruby holds up her scroll, and I see a picture of the four of them in their Beacon uniforms. I feel a slight pang, seeing how happy they all are, mostly because I knew what was coming for them, if Ruby's summary of previous events holds up. Or maybe it wouldn't. Butterflies and all that. Nonetheless, I head out, Ruby not far behind. "So we know what the story is, right? We're on the same page?"

"Yeah."

"Very good," I nod. We head through the door and the metal detector and approach the front desk.

A black-haired woman in a police uniform looks up from the computer. "Can I help you?"

"I'd like to file a missing persons report," says Ruby. "...like, three of them..."

The woman raises an eyebrow, but nods all the same. "Alright. What are their names?"

"Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and my sister, Yang Xiao Long."

"Do you have descriptions for them?"

Ruby slides her scroll onto the desk, showing the same picture. "Weiss has white hair, Blake has black, Yang's the blonde. Weiss is around my size...Blake is taller than me, and Yang's taller than both of us..."

"...I meant like numbers. Height, weight, eye colors, too."

"Oh! Right!" Ruby says. "Um...I'm 5'2, so Weiss would maybe be 5'3...Blake's 5'6...and Yang's 5'8. Weiss has blue eyes, Blake has yellow, and Yang has purple."

The woman looks Ruby over. Specifically, at her silver eyes. I almost want to make a "current year" comment to draw her attention away from that, but she simply hums to herself and takes Ruby's scroll. "This the only picture you've got?"

"Of all of us together, yes," Ruby said.

"When was the last time you saw them?"

"Yesterday evening. They said they were heading out and never came back."

"So, at least twelve hours..." the woman said. "Do you know where they could've gone?"

Ruby shakes her head. The woman's eyes then turn to me. "Are you with her?"

I quickly nod. "I'm Ryan King. I...guess you could say I'm their..." _Don't choose a stupid word, don't choose a stupid word…_ "Tour guide…? Chaperone...? I'm basically in charge of the four of them."

God, I hate my brain today. And the woman doesn't seem particularly convinced with that stare she's giving me. Ruby's begun to wilt again, sensing impending doom. Eventually, she gives back Ruby's scroll. "How old are they?"

"Seventeen," says Ruby.

"Seventeen all," I say at the same time. Ruby doesn't seem to notice that I just mentioned that, which I good. Or maybe not. Someone could be taking me for a ride here.

The woman nods. "Alright. I'll forward the information. Do you have a number to call if we find anything?" I give her my cell phone number. "Thank you. We'll be in touch."

"Thanks." Ruby also mumbles a thank you and we both leave. Even though we achieved what we set out to do without raising too many eyebrows (hopefully), I'm not feeling too confident. "Well...we've done all we can do on that front. Hopefully somebody saw something."

"Yeah..." Ruby doesn't, either.

I check my watch as I unlock Dad's car. That took only fifteen minutes. Del Taco is pretty much around the corner. Would this be enough time to not look suspicious? I take another look at the depressed fifteen-year-old internet show protagonist in the passenger seat. I guess there are worse things you could do in these circumstances. I take the driver's seat once more. "You still up for Del Taco?"

"I guess...but..."

"What?"

"...what's a taco?"

I tilt my head. It sounds like an honest question. But my thoughts of whether tacos did or did not exist in Remnant was replaced with Undertale levels of determination as I start the car. "We'll answer that soon enough."

* * *

I hadn't been to Del Taco in years. Back then, Del Taco was an institution in our family. After going to church on Sunday, we'd all go to Del Taco with my grandparents. Of course, most of us stopped going to church mostly to due to general apathy after a while, and Mom, Sarah, and Regan can't eat there anymore, because, in their own words, "Del Taco is the Chernobyl of gluten." This naturally meant I couldn't go, at least not while out and about with the others, and going anywhere by my own choice had been something I'd had to discard for a while.

Ruby comes in with me, looking around at the number of people in the place. It's in the waning minutes of the lunch rush, and she's nervous all over again. My eyes flick up to the menu, and I immediately know what will cheer her up. And she instantly perks up at the words "two chocolate milkshakes" when I order. Things are just about ready to look up when my phone buzzes. It's a text message from Danny.

 _Hey. You run into Mom or Dad yet?_

 _No. Why?_

 _They left about ten minutes ago. Wanted to be there to introduce themselves to Ruby's family or something like that._

My heart just about stops at that moment. Mom must have convinced Dad to call my bluff, and once again, I'm gonna be caught in my own web of lies before thirty minutes have even passed. Then, I actually remember what it was that he said. I look back at my phone's screen. They'd left ten minutes ago and we'd only just got here? They should've beaten us here and we'd be hashing this out in the parking lot if that were the case. And it wasn't even like there was heavy traffic out on the roads. My sixth sense is throwing up red flags aplenty.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asks. She must have seen my troubled look.

I decide to call Mom's cell phone. Better find this out for myself. "I hope I'm wrong, but Danny says we're about to get busted."

"What!?" Ruby asked.

 _We're sorry. The number you have dialed has been disconnected. You may hang up and try again._

"The fu..." I stop myself finishing the word, due to the fifteen-year-old across from me.

"Order 36!"

"That's us," I tell Ruby. "Go and get it, will you, I need to stay on top of thi-" She's already gone. Did she actually use her Semblance? A few rose petals cross my vision, and sure enough, Ruby's back at the table with our food. I quickly scan the crowd, seeing if there's a reaction as I go for Dad's cell this time. Nobody seems to have noticed. At least that's one good thing going for us-

 _We're sorry. The number you have dialed has been disconnected. You may hang up and try again._

"Okaaaay...that's spooky..." My mind is racing, trying to filter through the information, the food in front of me suddenly unimportant. Something is rotten in the city of Big bear.

"What?"

"Mom and Dad both aren't picking up."

"Well, if they're driving here-"

"Danny said they left ten minutes ago..." I say. I dial Danny's number. Maybe it's a network issue? I still have a good signal, but these things could happen. "They should've beaten us here, or at least made it here by now..."

" _Hello?_ " Danny's voice hits my ear.

"Danny. Are you sure they left ten minutes ago?"

" _Yeah. They said they'd be back fairly quickly, too._ "

"Have you tried calling them at all?"

" _Sarah and Regan_ _both_ _did. Nothing. They said the line was disconnected or something._ "

"Well, that's what I'm getting on my end, but if I'm still talking to you, then..."

There's a muffled crunch of metal outside the window. I give a brief start, and Ruby instantly grabs my sleeve, trying to get my attention. I follow her gaze out through the window we're sitting next to. And what I saw absolutely baffled me. There's this huge furry thing in the parking lot, easily the size of a grown man, black and red with wicked claws. It's sniffing and prowling around like it's got a file to report on Monday.

I know a Beowolf when I see one.

There are Grimm in town.

 _Why in the holy name of Bob fucking Saget are there Grimm in town!?_

"Ryan…" Ruby says. She's tense again, but not nervous like earlier. Rather, her voice makes her sound like a coiled spring ready to shoot off.

And speaking of shooting off, that's when I remember where Crescent Rose is.

"...Danny, imma have to call you back..." I hang up the phone. "...is that what I think it is?"

"Yup. That's a Beowolf."

"I thought you said you killed that one you fought."

"I did."

"Okay...next question. Was there more of them?"

"I don't remember."

"Ruby."

"Please, you gotta believe me!"

I hush her, still keeping an eye on the hulking beast outside. "Keep your voice down. We don't want to start drawing any attention-"

I hear the clattering of a plastic tray falling to the ground off to the side. Its owner is staring directly past us at the Grimm outside, eyes wide and unbelieving. In fact, the entire restaurant has come to a screeching halt at the sight of the beast, murmuring. Several of them have already pulled out their smartphones to record the event. I also snap off a photo just for posterity, then turn back to Ruby. "What's the game plan?

"What?" Ruby asks.

"Well, there's a huge hulking monster outside nobody's seen before and you're the foremost expert on these things currently in the room. What's the thing we should do in this situation?"

"Uh...you may just...want to let me handle it..."

"Great. One problem, though..." I point towards the car. "Guess what's still in the car..."

Ruby blinks, then her hand goes to her empty back holster to confirm. "...oh."

"Yeah. So how do we fix that?"

Ruby's eyes flicker, trying to come up with a plan. I keep my eyes on the Grimm as it seeks out whatever it is that it's trying to find, but at that moment, the Grimm suddenly turns, looking directly at me through the shaded window. And I swear I could hear it growling. Ruby is snapped out of her thoughts at that moment, and suddenly grabbed me right out of my seat. " _Get down!_ "

And not a second later, the Grimm lunges, blasting right through the window and showering the place in glass. I don't know if it was because she used her Semblance, or because of something else, because it all seemed to happen in that one second, like I was getting ejected out of the cockpit of a fighter jet. One moment I was sitting, the other I was sprawled on the ground, with Ruby in front of me and a very hungry Grimm on the other side of her.

First comes the silence.

Then comes the screaming.

Chaos abounds as everyone else in the building scatters, left, right, and center. The Beowolf snarls, looking for easy prey, and finds one of the workers in the back trying to scramble out the back of the kitchen. My mind races, and I see the tray the one person dropped from earlier still laying on the ground. I quickly snatch it off the ground.

"Yo!"

I throw it at the Beowolf's head. It misses by a mile, but the shout does its job, and it turns back towards me. I dig into my pockets and pull out Dad's fob, slowly retracing my steps towards the now-open window. The Beowulf growls, and I hit the button to open the trunk.

I felt like I should've been scared. And I was. But whatever fear I was feeling wasn't paralyzing. It almost felt liberating, in a way that didn't make sense. My eyes flick back to the car. The trunk's now open. I steel myself, flex my knees, and then make an open break through the window. I can already hear the Beowulf charging after me, and right as I make it to the car and start pulling Crescent Rose out, I can see its massive shadow descending on my position.

"Ryan!" And Ruby warps right into the beast's path, a glowing red fist connecting with the beast's jaw in a rather impressive uppercut, a flurry of rose petals trailing in her wake. The Grimm misses me, but its new flight pattern strikes the car in a way that the inside wall of the trunk collides with my head, and I fall on my ass again, Crescent Rose clattering to the ground next to me.

"Ruby!" Around my aching head and ringing ears, I roll over a couple of times, grab the weapon, and throw it as hard as I can in her general direction.

Ruby snatches it out of the air, and Crescent Rose instantly unfolds into its scythe form. The Beowulf snarls, eyeing its new prey, but Ruby merely smiles, spinning the weapon the only way Ruby Rose would ever know how in her hands, and immediately launches herself at the beast. It tries to take a swipe at her as she comes in, but she zips hard left in a burst of rose petals, dodging its claws as the scythe's blade hooks under its neck.

There's a loud crack of gunfire, the Beowolf's head and body go two separate directions, and Ruby lands neatly on the ground.

This girl's no cosplayer, I finally realize.

This Ruby Rose is the real McCoy.

"Holy shit...!" I hear someone behind me say. When I turn around, still sitting on the ground, some of the people in the Del Taco are still here, and were watching the same thing I was.

Ruby quickly makes her way back to me and helps me up. It goes without saying, but Ruby's pretty strong for someone who's only 5'2. "You okay?"

"Still chugging along," I nod.

Ruby looks back towards the way the Beowulf had probably come trying to see if there are any more threats. I look back towards the crowd of people behind me, not sure of what to do. Ruby has also put away her weapon, looking at me for a plan. Police sirens were also fairly close.

"Well, I'll be dipped in fudge..." I groan. "We're going to jail."

I don't get a reply. "Ruby?"

Ruby's gone. In the place where she'd been standing is another pile of rose petals.

Ruby just bailed on me.

This officially sucks.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two: Not That Kind of Fallout, But You'd Wish It Was**  
 _  
Ruby_

I can already tell what you're thinking: "Why'd you just leave him, Ruby?"

I'll put it like this: dealing with the Grimm is easy. Dealing with people is hard.

It was kind of weird, but when Ryan threw Crescent Rose to me, I almost felt like myself again, after spending most of the morning feeling like a lost puppy. Even though it was just one Beowolf and it only took a few seconds, I almost felt like nothing had changed. But once it was dead and I turned back towards everyone, I saw everyone looking at me. They had their scrolls out, staring, taking pictures of me or the dead Grimm behind us. I try to distract myself by helping up Ryan. He's got a bruise on his forehead, above his right eye, but he's okay. Aura will take care of that.

I hear police sirens next.

"Well, I'll be dipped in fudge. We're going to jail."

...I panicked, okay? Everyone was looking at me, looking scared and talking with each other about whatever they were talking about, could've been me, could've been about the Grimm, could've been about Crescent Rose for all I knew. And with Ryan's repeated warnings about the police, I couldn't deal with it. I used my Semblance and ran for cover in the trees outside the restaurant.

I wait a few minutes, making sure no one would chase me and trying to get my breathing back under control. I peek out from cover with my hood up. The police are already there, talking with everyone. Ryan is sitting on a small wall in the parking lot, talking with another officer. A couple more are cordoning off the area with tape. When one of them bends down, I quickly detach the scope from Crescent Rose and try to see what he's doing.

He's holding something in his hand.

Uh oh. That's a shell from Crescent Rose. I must have fired it off out of reflex when I was fighting the Beowolf.

I try to take a few more breaths. It probably won't lead anywhere. I don't think anyone really saw my face at all. Crescent Rose isn't exactly a standard weapon. Besides, I saved their lives! No one's gonna put me in jail for that...right?

The officer talking to Ryan hands him something and leaves. Ryan gets off the wall and makes his way back towards his car. I quickly skirt around the edges of the wall, trying to stay out of sight of the police and other people as they make their way back to their cars as well. I slowly peek out as he opens the door, then use my Semblance again to zip over the wall and get in the passenger seat.

"Ryan!"

"Gkuh-!" Ryan steps backward, clutching at his chest. "Ruby, what the hell!?"

"Sorry. Did I scare you?"

"Yes, but...whatever. Close the door and keep your hood up." He gets back in the car and starts it. He takes a moment to breathe a couple times, and then looks over at me. He reminds me of what happens when Weiss gets mad; she stares at you with this flat look like she can't believe you did something so _stupid_.

"Ryan, I didn't mean to run, I just...I..."

Ryan shakes his head, still wearing that look. "No point worrying about it now. Let's just get out of here." He pulls out of the spot and gets back on the road.

"Where are we going?"

"Back to the cabin."

"What about your parents?"

He sighs. "Ruby, I think there's something bigger than the both of us going on right now and I'd like a minute to stop myself going completely insane." He takes a look around at the next stoplight. "You can take your hood off now." As I take it off, he turns back to me, his face dead serious. "Now. First question. Are you _sure_ that you killed that first Beowolf?"

"Yeah. At least...I'm pretty sure it was dead when I saw it last..."

"Okay. Second question, and I want you to think _real_ hard about this one: was it alone?"

"Wait, you asked me this already! I said don't know!"

He blinks and his face softens. "...did I?" He looks down at my hands, and so do I. I try to stop them shaking by hiding them in my shroud. There's a loud honk from behind us, and Ryan jumps a mile high in his seat. Apparently the light turned green and he totally forgot. "Jesus-!"

He resumes driving, breathing out again. But he's still on edge. I can tell from the way his eyes jump as he scans the road ahead. He's not just looking for traffic, he's looking for other threats. Other Grimm. He doesn't believe me, does he?

"Ryan..." I say. "If I knew anything else about what happened, I would tell you. But...I already told you everything."

"I'm sure," Ryan says. His voice is neutral, but it's shaky. "But I'm not taking any risks."

"...have you not seen one before?"

"Seen what?"

"A Beowolf. One of the Grimm."

He doesn't answer right away. "Stuff like it, sure. But never in real life. They're just...myths. Villains in old bedtime stories."

"So like...never ever?"

"That's what I said, isn't it?"

We finally pull into the driveway at the cabin. Ryan takes off his hat and runs a hand through his hair. That bruise is still on his forehead. His Aura is taking its time healing him. It's almost like he doesn't have Aura. But that would be silly. I mean, the only person that I knew that didn't have an Aura (at least to start) was Jaune, and...well, there's a lot about Jaune that didn't really make sense to begin with, but at least he had Pyrrha and the rest of Team JNPR to help him through some of his...weaknesses? Weiss uses another word that means the same thing, something that starts with a D.

We get out of the car and enter through the front door, to the enthusiasm of Molly and the other two dogs Ryan's family has. Ryan's siblings are waiting for us at the door.

"You're back. What happened?" asks Danny.

Ryan holds out his scroll to them. "This happened."

Danny takes it first, staring at the picture. "What the hell is it?"

"A Beowolf," I say.

"A what?" asked Danny.

Ryan stiffens suddenly. I think I said too much again.

"It's a...thing we studied in Beacon," I say, trying to keep to the original story.

"That's not exactly helpful," says Sarah.

"Well, whatever it is, it busted right through the window of the Del Taco and tried to kill anyone it got its filthy claws on. Police got involved and everything," Ryan takes over.

"And you just left?" asks Regan.

"It's a crime scene now, no way they were gonna let us stay. We didn't even get to eat lunch."

Oh yeah. I totally forgot about that. And my stomach is quick to add its agreement, too. I sigh, momentarily thinking about how I got robbed out of a chocolate milkshake by a Grimm.

"And Mom and Dad…?" Danny speaks up.

"Never ran into them. Ruby's folks were MIA, too. No calls, no texts, not even so much as a poke on Facebook."

"People still do that?" Sarah asks.

"You get my point," Ryan says flatly. "...so, does anyone have a game plan? Because I'm fresh out." Nobody says anything. They all just exchange a look. Ryan sighs. "Lovely."

"You're not exactly contributing anything helpful yourself," says Regan.

"...maybe we should get the police involved?" I offer, trying to stop another argument before it starts. "I mean, it can't just be normal for people to disappear on the road for no good reason. Especially if they knew where they were going."

"Well, yeah, but it's only been thirty minutes..." Sarah says.

"It took longer than thirty minutes for Ruby and I to leave, go to Del Taco, get attacked, get questioned by the police, and come home, and we didn't see hide nor hair of them, not to mention we can't reach them on their phones," Ryan says. "I know it seems like we're probably freaking out over nothing, but we can't dismiss the idea out of hand."

"What about Ruby? Are we supposed to just baby-sit her for the whole time we're up here?" Regan asks.

"It may have to come to that. I don't like the idea of Ruby being alone with her folks gone the way of Mom and Dad. At least she'll be safe here," Ryan goes to put the keys back where he found them.

"And what if night falls and we still hear nothing?" asks Sarah.

"She could spend the night here. It's not like we're lacking for space."

"...are you sure you two aren't trying to use this as a cover for-"

"Ew. Regan. No. Why."

"I'm still not convinced you're not dating!"

"Regan, so help me God-!"

At that point, Regan, Ryan, and Sarah begin yelling at each other. I leave the room, sit on the steps of the porch, and try to tune it out. Ryan's especially loud, and it sounds like there's a whole new round of accusations of how long he's really known me and whether we've been dating in secret being thrown around. This whole world seems totally upside-down. If I squint my eyes and drown out the arguing, I could almost pretend I'm back home.

But I'm not. I'm father from home than I'd ever thought I'd be, my friends are missing, the Grimm are still here (and apparently totally foreign to everyone), and my only comfort is one of the other dogs Ryan's family has. He's a brindled bulldog puppy probably about the size of Zwei with a smile a mile wide. I scratch the top of his head, watching the clouds scroll by over the rooftops and the trees.

Sunset's still a ways off, but thinking about it makes me nervous.

"Weiss...Blake...Yang...where are you?"

* * *

 _Ryan_

There's a general rule that smart men follow: never get in an argument with a King woman. You're going to lose. Always. You'd think I'd have learned that by now, given that I live in a house with three of them, but like all humans, I'm a creature of habit.

The issue with Sarah and Regan is that they're not only stubborn, but also smart. What they like to do, see, is gang up on you at once with righteous fury and then promptly disassemble all counterpoints you have, and if you have a point, they'll ignore you and try to strike back on points already made. It's the kind of unhealthy combo that could only be rivaled by the likes of the unholiest chain-CC combos in League of Legends. Like Camille-Zac-Galio, or as I like to call it, the "House of Bounce."

Upon finding Ruby had left (again), I was struck with a moment of panic, but then I took a few steps and saw her hooded head poking out through the windows of the porch doors. Sarah and Regan finally had shut up, probably to bask in the glory of another victory, and Danny hadn't taken part in the argument at all, being wrapped up in his laptop as usual. So I took that as my cue to busy myself with something else.

Namely, grabbing a couple of Klondike bars out of the freezer and joining Ruby outside to sulk.

Ruby looks up as I hand her one. "What is this?"

"Ice cream."

Ruby snatches it out of my hand. After staring at it for a moment, she takes a nibble. "...oh wow. That is good."

I smile briefly as Ruby takes another bite, scratching the top of Puppy Joe's head. "Puppy Joe's really taken a shine to you. I'm legit amazed."

"Does he not like strangers?"

"It takes him a while for him to get used to other people, though I suspect he's more relaxed around you because you're a girl. He didn't really like me or Dad at all when we rescued him off the street back home, and it took him a few months to stop barking at me every time I entered the room."

Ruby hums, before taking a rubber ball from the foot of the stairs and throwing it towards the grass. Puppy Joe immediately takes off after it. "So...where am I, exactly? I mean, I know this place is called Big Bear City, but like...where exactly _is_ that?"

"Like...what country is this?"

"Yeah. Like, is it a kingdom, or something?"

Well, I guess it would be a legitimate thing to ask, given the circumstances. "Where you are, Ruby, is a place called the United States of America. Think of it as like a kingdom made up of fifty smaller kingdoms tied up in one package."

"...ooooooookay…?" I pull out my phone again and Google a map to show her what I mean. "...oh, okay. So...where are we on this map?"

"Here. California. The big one in the west next to the ocean."

"And my friends could be anywhere here..."

"We don't know that," I try to reassure her. "Besides, even if they were, that's why we got the police involved, to get extra eyes where we can't put ours to. Of course, the Grimm kinda make things a bit more complicated..."

"It can't be that bad, right? I mean, I was able to beat the Grimm, surely the police would be able to, right?"

"Maybe, but then again, the police around here aren't exactly packing the kind of heat you do..." My phone begins buzzing in my hand. The number isn't one I recognize. A part of my mind thinks it could be my parents. Or their kidnappers. I flick my thumb and put it to my ear. "Hello?"

" _Hello, is this Ryan?_ "

Too formal for kidnappers. "Yes it is. May I ask who's calling?"

" _My name is Rodrigo Alvarez, I'm with the Big Bear City Police Department, following up on your request for a series of missing persons reports from earlier today. Is your friend there?_ "

"Yeah." I mouth "it's the police" at Ruby as she flicks the ball out again for Puppy Joe to chase. "Give me a moment, I'll put you on speaker." I tap my phone screen. "Okay, go ahead."

" _Okay, Mr. King, so as part of standard procedure, we were going through all our databases trying to find further information about the people you reported missing. Unfortunately, we weren't able to find anything._ "

Not very comforting, but kind of expected, given Ruby and friends are from a different world. But that can't be the only reason why they're calling. "Is that all?"

" _Well, the reason why I'm calling is because we haven't been able to find anything at all. There's no record of anyone with those names in any database we have access to. Local, state, and federal. No birth certificates, no vaccination records, no school registration records, nothing."_

Uh oh. That's something I _wasn't_ expecting, at least not until much later. And if they're assuming they're all illegal immigrants, that'd make things totally worse! "Ah."

" _Which is why I was hoping your friend was with you. I'd like to talk to her personally to see, and get some more information on where she and her friends are actually from, so we can figure out how to fine-tune the search."_

Ruby and I share a look. Our current story isn't going to hold up to more intense scrutiny. I don't think any story we could come up with would. Ruby telling him about Vale and Remnant and the Grimm is probably going to be too fantastical to be believed, and me telling him she's from an internet anime thing that I picked up on the side of the road this morning is going to going to get me a cell in the nearest madhouse.

"You are at least looking for them right now, right? Even if it's just in and around town?"

" _Yes, though we can't really discuss the particulars over the phone. But, if the two of you came in, we should have the ability to..._ "

I say nothing and try to think my way through it. As much as I want to stay on the police's good side at the moment, I'm pretty sure it's a ploy to get us separated and get us to spill. Which leads to what I mentioned previously. I need time to plan our next move, but the longer I stay silent, the longer-

"Okay."

Aaaaaaaaand Ruby just ruined that chance.

" _Okay, good. So if you could come in sometime tonight, that would be great. Just ask for my name at the desk._ "

"Great." Not great. Not great at all. Dammit, Ruby, why you gotta do this to me?

" _Okay then, thank you. Goodbye._ "

He hangs up. It goes against all my gamer instincts not to chuck my phone across the porch.

"I did it again, didn't I?" Ruby asks. She does seem apologetic, at least.

"Ayup. Ruby, what could possibly have been going through your-"

"They saw the Beowolf, right? I mean, I know it sounds silly, but maybe we don't have to keep lying if they know-"

"We don't know that," I shake my head.

"They can't prove anything!"

"That may be true, but we're still going to be at the center of anything Grimm-related if we actually do this. And there's no putting the genie back in the bottle."

Ruby hugs her knees. "I just...I hate lying. We saved those people, right? Why is that such a big problem here? Why would people think that's a bad thing?"

"Well, first of all, what do you mean 'we?' That was all you back there, I just yelled and threw a tray. As for the other thing..."

I trail off as I actually think about what Ruby asked. For something so simple, it's such a profound question, especially considering the political climate that I've been living in, and Ruby's been unceremoniously dropped into. Ruby's basically a superhero, when you think about it, in a world where there are none. And it seems like no one's a hero these days because they aren't allowed to be one. No heroes, only people willing to stand up and be targets. The heroes that I grew up reading and seeing (and whatever ones Ruby read and saw) don't really exist anymore.

Maybe they never did. Or maybe we just forgot what it was like to be around them.

"...it's complicated." And now I'm depressed.

Ruby moans, hanging her head. Knowing full well my sisters could probably see me if they looked outside, and thinking I was definitely going to end up on a watchlist before too long, I put my arm around her shoulders for a couple seconds. "One thing at a time, though. Let's focus on what we can do right now. So chin up, you." I stand up and make my way back into the cabin. Everyone is still sitting in the living room, and the silence just amps up the worry and tension I'm feeling. Especially given that the TV is off. We'd all be binging _The West Wing_ on Netflix right about now.

I take a seat at the counter, going through Facebook on my phone while musing about what to do in the meantime. What I see next almost makes me choke on my last bit of Klondike bar.

Someone got a video of the Grimm attack.

"You okay?" Ruby's come back in from outside.

"Yeah," I say around a slight wheeze. I plug in my earbuds to keep the others from listening and hit the play button. Sure enough, there's me, dashing through the broken window to the car to open the trunk. The Grimm is not far behind, and in comes Ruby with the Shoryuken and I take that hit to my head. I toss Crescent Rose to her, there's a loud bang (and several screams, including a particularly loud "what the fuck!?") and the Grimm is dead. Ruby puts away the weapon and helps me up, and the video ends.

I quickly go through the comments, already thinking someone's figured out this is the real Ruby, but most of the comments are skeptical. A couple of people think that's scenes from a movie being filmed in town. Others are calling it CGI. That's good, at least. As long as people stay skeptical about what they saw, we should be able to focus on finding the rest of the team and not trying to dodge the eyes of the press. Or rabid members of FNDM.

I quickly down my next round of pills, trying to think about what to do. Ruby, meanwhile, is messing around with Molly in the living room, and the question she asked me is still echoing around in my head. Do we really need to lie about this? The police saw the Grimm corpse. It's not even like it's private knowledge, it's on my Facebook feed, for God's sake. And a good relationship with the police is always good in this kind of situation.

He may be suspicious of us, but this Rodrigo Alvarez guy might be our only good asset. And lying to him is just not going to help things at all.

"Fuck it," I mutter, and then stand up. "Guys, I'm not comfortable with waiting. I'm gonna go ahead and head to the station now."

I'm expecting someone to stop me. But, Sarah merely looks up and says, "Okay. Just text us when you get there."

"Yeah." Glad to not be fighting again, I look towards Ruby and jerk my head towards the garage door. She takes the hint and starts heading out as well.

"So, we're going to have to file two more reports, then?" asks Ruby.

I nod. "That, and...well, I've been thinking about what you said earlier. And...you're right."

"Huh? I'm right? About what?"

"Lying to the cops is only going to cause more problems, problems we really don't need right now," I say. "Let's just go and meet this Rodrigo Alvarez guy."

"And you're not worried we'll get in trouble?"

"Of course I am. But as far as I'm concerned, we've done nothing wrong, and if we did, well, they'd have a lot to prove before they could hold us, and if they don't, they can't do anything. At least, I'm _pretty_ sure, but to make that work they'd have to get really creative. Besides, we play our cards right, he could be a valuable ally. No point throwing that away."

Ruby smiles as she gets in the car. "Nothing wrong with cautious optimism, right?"

I chuckle a little. "Exactly."

* * *

 _Ruby_

I know Ryan changed his mind, but I wish I knew why he was so paranoid about the police.

Back home, the police and hunters didn't always have the best of relationships, sure. Uncle Qrow had his fair share of run-ins with them, according to Dad, but he always said it had more to do with his "attitude" than anything he actually did or didn't do. Or at least, he was pretty sure about that. The way it's supposed to work is that hunters handled the Grimm, and the police handled regular crime and stuff like that. But, sometimes those boundaries get crossed for one reason or another and that leads to police and hunters sniping at each other for whatever reason.

Maybe that's what it is? I mean, I'm not _officially_ a Huntress, but I may as well be, given the circumstances, and I guess with the lack of Grimm around up until now, the police may not like someone like me in what's usually been their territory. But that wouldn't explain why Ryan's been wigging out over Crescent Rose and his comment about "guns being a touchy subject."

Ryan suddenly stiffens when we reach a stop sign.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"I thought I saw something," he says. He looks up through the windshield and the sunroof for a moment.

"Like what?"

"Something overhead. Couldn't quite catch it. I thought it might have been a plane, but I didn't hear anything and it was flying way too low." He waits for a moment, then sighs. "I'm probably still jumpy from this afternoon."

"Don't worry. I'm here, remember?" I tell him.

He nods, turning his eyes forward, but then he goes stiff again. "Okay, now I know I heard something."

I try to listen around the hum of the engine as he rolls down the windows a little bit. For a moment, that's all I hear. And then I hear a low rumbling outside. It's not like an earthquake, it's more like...a growling. And then there's a loud roar.

Uh oh.

"Jesus Christ!" A black furry arm suddenly shoots in through the crack in the window across from Ryan, trying to swipe away at his face with its claws. Attached to that arm is a large black cat with red spots, yellow eyes, behind an all-too-familiar white mask.

It's a Tezcatli!

"Drive!" I scream.

Ryan stomps on the gas and we shoot forward. The Grimm's arm comes out of the window. I quickly check on Ryan. "You okay?"

Ryan touches at his face and his chest for a moment. "I'm fine." He looks at the Tezcatli through the rearview mirror. It's in hot pursuit. "That's another Grimm, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Two in the same day, that's just wonderful," he snarks.

"You gotta let me take it out!"

"Well of course, I'm just trying to draw this fight somewhere else!"

"Like where?"

"Anywhere that's not here! We're in a residential neighborhood!" There's a loud thump, and the car lurches. "Jesus!" I look behind us again, and the Tezcatli somehow managed to latch onto the back of the car.

As Ryan wrestles with the wheel, I look back towards where Crescent Rose is in the trunk, and back at the Tezcatli, which is trying to either dig in to slow us down or get on top of the car for an easy kill. I quickly check the road ahead of us, and then I unbuckle myself and dive for the back seat.

"Ruby! Ruby, get back in your seat!"

I brace myself against the headrests of the back seat for a moment as Ryan tries to keep the car steady, then get into the trunk, uncovering Crescent Rose. As I activate its rifle mode, the Tezcatli's paw shoots through the back window, showering me in glass, and tries to pull me and Crescent Rose through the window.

"Ruby!"

I brace my feet against the trunk door and pull, trying to get free of the Tezcatli's grasp. I look back towards Ryan. I see him look towards me briefly, and then he hits the brakes and turns hard left. Using the motion, I shift my weight off my left foot, concentrate my Aura, and kick the Grimm in the face with it. It does the trick, and it lets go of the rifle, but it's still hanging onto the car.

"Ruby! Get back up here and buckle up!"

"Why? I've got a shot!" As I look behind me again, I see why: we're coming up on a three-way intersection awfully fast, and there's cars in front of us.

"I've got a plan, but it's kinda extreme, something I've never done before, and likely could kill us if it goes wrong!"

I shove myself away from the trunk door as the Tezcatli tries to take another swipe at me, clamber into the backseat, and quickly strap in, still holding on to Crescent Rose. "Ready!"

"Hang on!" Ryan makes a motion with his hand where he touches his forehead, chest, and both his shoulders in rapid succession, takes the wheel, and swings it hard to the left. The tires squeal as I feel the G-force try to pull me through the motion as we spin completely around. The maneuver actually makes the Tezcatli let go of the car and throws it into open air. We stop, and my head hits the window, making my head start ringing, but we're both okay.

Then I hear the groaning of metal, and outside the window, I find the Tezcatli ended up hitting a stoplight. The stoplight pole bends, breaks, and comes down just inches from several cars in front of it. For a moment, I think (or at least wish) the impact of the crash would've killed it, or at least knocked it out. But I already know the Grimm aren't so easily beaten. Sure enough, the Tezcatli merely gets up and shakes it off. I have to act now, or it could go after Ryan. Or worse, go after the other people nearby.

I unbuckle myself and burst out of the car, Crescent Rose in scythe mode. "Hey! Fight me, you stupid furball!"

The Tezcatli roars at me and tries to pounce. But this time, I'm ready. I give Crescent Rose a quick twirl, flicking the blade upward, and then fire off a shot to send it away from me and Ryan, back towards the parking lot of what looks like another store off the road we're currently on. I then vault over Ryan's car, jump off of it with another burst of Aura, and then use my Semblance to cross the street and land one clean slash right through its neck.

Another Grimm dealt with.

I look back towards Ryan. He's come out of the car, looking super tired, but super happy, too. "Yeah baby! That's how we do it in SoCal! GG! Oh my God..." He slumps against the door and slides down to the ground.

I quickly make my way back to him. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Ryan nods. "I just...need to extract my heart from my throat..."

Well, that's good. Unfortunately, the car is a bit of a different story. There's a light smoke coming from under the hood, and there's a big hole in the back window. There's probably a few holes from the Tezcatli's claws in the roof as well. "Sorry about your dad's car."

"Could be worse. We could both be cat food," he snarks.

I giggle (though I probably shouldn't), but then I hear the sound of sirens coming our way. Ryan starts trying to push himself back up, and I try to help him up. It'd probably be best if we just let the police sort this out. I mean, yeah, we were going to meet them, but this is so not what I had in mind! Unfortunately, by the time Ryan makes it to his feet fully, we're already surrounded by squad cars.

"Police!"

"Hands in the air!"

"Drop the weapon!"

I look towards Ryan, and he looks at me. His expression is kinda resigned.

This looks really bad. Every nerve in my body is telling me to run.

But I don't want to do that to Ryan. Not twice in a row, at least.

So I drop Crescent Rose onto the ground and raise my hands over my head. Ryan does the same.

Dropped in a strange new world, no team, my only friend a guy who's way older than me who everyone thinks I'm dating, and now I'm getting arrested for trying to save people from the Grimm.

Can I just say it hasn't been a good day for me?

* * *

 _Ryan_

I explicitly told Ruby not to say anything as they handcuffed us and read us our Miranda rights, and when we got to the station I told the officers we'd only talk with Rodrigo Alvarez, the guy we were supposed to be meeting anyway. I probably should've gotten a lawyer for the both of us, too, but that kind of slipped my mind. I was more worried about Ruby at that point (who was looking more than a little freaked by now), and more importantly, what would happen if Yang or Qrow or Taiyang found out.

That was, of course, predicated on the idea that any or all of them had also made the jump with Ruby to here from Remnant, but I'm not taking any chances there and neither should you.

Just as I'd feared, though, they'd taken us to separate rooms. They hadn't booked either of us on entry, so at least I was right on the front that they hadn't charged us with anything...yet. So, after using my one phone call to call Sarah and fill her in on everything (and spoiler warning: she did _not_ take it well) and to go pick up Dad's car, I'm led into this tiny room with a table and the world's smallest chair. All I could do was wait for what was about to come through the door, and hope Ruby would actually do what she was told and not say anything.

The door behind me opens, and a Latino man in his forties with a thin mustache finally enters the room. "Ryan King?"

I nod.

"I'm Rodrigo Alvarez, we spoke earlier on the phone."

I incline my head in greeting. Alvarez walks past me and takes a seat on the other side of the table. "That was quite a show you and your friend put on back there. I suppose you wouldn't know anything about where that creature came from or why it attacked you?"

I shrug. "We were on our way to come see you and it just came flying out of the trees. Didn't even see it until it tried clawing my face off through the window."

"I see." Alvarez nods, putting down a few things on the table. "Anyway, about what we discussed earlier. I'm still wondering a few things about your friend. Does she have a name at all?"

"...Ruby," I say.

"How did you and Ruby meet?"

I explain to him the events of the day thus far, sticking with most of the original story we came up with. Alvarez scratches at his mustache for a moment. "And you're sure your parents are missing?"

"We'd been debating that since we got back. It's too long for them to have been gone to go to the place we just were and we haven't heard anything from them. Between them and Ruby's friends...well, everything's chaos right about now. I figured at this rate it'd be better just to assume they're missing and hope they still turn up anyway than not and spend our time asking how, why, or where."

Alvarez slides a picture in front of me. It's a picture of Crescent Rose, still in scythe form, resting on a table probably somewhere in the station. "This is quite a piece of work your friend Ruby has. The level of craftsmanship is definitely a step up. Thing is, I'm not sure how a girl her age was able to get it. How old is she, anyway?"

 _Here comes the hurricane._ "Fifteen, sir." Alvarez raises an eyebrow. "And no, we're not dating, get your head out of the gutter."

"Easy, I never suggested as much," Alvarez said, though the way he's looking at me shows he's _still_ more than a bit skeptical. I know it's about the optics of it all, but it's seriously starting to get annoying.

"You'd be surprised how often that's been thrown around today."

It almost gets a chuckle out of him. He instead puts a finger on the Crescent Rose picture again. "See, here's where I'm having an issue. When we were investigating the attack at the Del Taco from this afternoon, we came across this not far from the creature's corpse." He pulls out something in an evidence bag. It's a red shell casing.

 _Oh, crap._

"There were also multiple witnesses that reported a single gunshot, and yet it's pretty clear that it was killed by something that clearly _wasn't_ a gunshot. So you'll understand if this is looking rather suspicious, let alone confusing. And Ruby has been very tight-lipped about it, so I was thinking maybe you knew something."

"Know something about a weapon belonging to a girl I barely know?"

"Mr. King, these bullet casings are clearly special. Custom-made. I'd almost say they came from a high-caliber rifle. Like a sniper rifle."

I have to choose my next words carefully. Otherwise, one or both of us could end up behind bars. "Are you actually suggesting, officer, that this scythe has some kind of capability as a firearm?"

"Well, does it?"

"How would that even work?"

"I don't know. And that's why I'm asking you."

"If you could answer that, then you're a wiser man than I, frankly."

Alvarez blows out a long sigh, then leaves the room. That last statement probably didn't endear me to him that much, but I need to get the attention off of Ruby for the moment. More time passes. With no window and my phone confiscated, I'm not sure how much. Finally, Alvarez comes back and says with a grunt, "you're free to go."

Around the glorious blast of Handel ringing in my head, I ask, "Where's Ruby?"

"Right here," Ruby pops up from behind him. She looks exhausted as well. And from the look of the light coming through the windows past the bullpen, sunset is very close. She quickly sidles over to me.

"I appreciate you coming to see me willingly," Alvarez says. "We'll try to keep you posted on any developments in the investigation."

His face, despite his politeness, shows more skepticism. He's got nothing to prove, and I'm pretty sure it bothers him more than a little. So much for having him as an ally. Nonetheless, I nod my thanks and lead Ruby to go collect our effects. Outside the station, Sarah is waiting with the car. Her car, specifically. Dad's car is nowhere to be found.

"You guys okay?"

"No charges filed, no injuries...honestly, Dad's car is the worst of it. Where is it?" I ask.

"Danny took it back to the cabin. What on earth happened?"

"Grimm attack," Ruby says.

"Ambush," I say at the same time. This is rapidly becoming a problem with us.

Sarah stares at the two of us for a moment, then gestures to the car with her head. "Come on."

The drive back to the cabin is uneventful, though by the time we get there it's past sunset. We're at the appointed time and basically next to nowhere. Ruby is utterly silent the whole way back, and the worry on her face kills me inside.

"So, what are we doing, exactly?" Sarah asks suddenly.

"...huh?"

"Ruby. Are we actually going to have her stay with us?"

"That's the general idea."

"Well, then, maybe we should stop by her place, so she can get her things."

I hear Ruby give an audible gulp from the backseat, and I'm right there with her. So far, her things come in the form of the clothes on her back and Crescent Rose and that's it. I had only suggested staying with us just so Ruby wasn't out in the cold and we could stay close while we searched for the others. Once again, a thing that I didn't really think through enough has come home to roost.

"That's okay..." Ruby says quietly. "I'll be fine sleeping in this."

Sarah is, naturally, surprised by this response. So am I, though it's more predicated on how she thought to say something like that. As Sarah's about to ask why, I grab my phone from my pocket, draft a text message and show it to her.

 _It's complicated. I'll tell everyone when we've had a chance to relax._

Sarah takes my phone, reads the message, then gets out of the car. Ruby and I do likewise, and as we're greeted by the dogs going absolutely wild in the backyard at our return, Ruby goes and flops onto the couch. Sarah takes this opportunity to lead me back into the backyard.

"Ryan, what the hell is going on?"

"I told you, I'll tell you when-"

"Ryan, please. Is there something going on at home with Ruby? Some reason she wouldn't want to go back?"

"I just don't want her to go back. I want her here, where she'll be safe."

Sarah inhales for a moment, then asks softly, "Ryan...is Ruby being abused?"

I could easily say yes. See, Sarah's a second-grade teacher. If I say yes, or at least imply it, she'd more than likely back off and be more sympathetic towards Ruby on top of that. But not only is it another lie that's bound to fall apart, given my current luck, it also _feels_ wrong, more so than the ones I've already told. The thought of it alone makes my skin crawl, and betraying Sarah's trust like that is going to hurt a lot more than any argument we'd get into later.

"No, it's not like that," I shake my head. "But let's just say that this whole situation is..."

"Complicated," Sarah finishes, folding her arms.

"Sarah, for God's sake, she's fifteen, got attacked twice in the same day by rampaging beasts, and already been interrogated by the police. Can you give her a break, just for tonight? Do it for me, if not for her."

Sarah looks away for a moment, then nods. "Okay." She heads into the cabin. I hang back a moment, watching through the window as Sarah goes to Ruby, says something to her, and then goes into the kitchen. I make my way back in as well and join Ruby on the couch.

"What'd she say to you?" I murmur.

Ruby looks over at me. She's a bit happier now. "Sarah said she'd lend me some of her clothes so I don't have to sleep in this tonight or wear it tomorrow."

Wow. Something actually went right. "We'll fix the clothing problem tomorrow morning, I promise."

"Are you sure?"

"I might be able to convince Sarah or Regan to lend me some money. Besides, I think they like you a little more now."

"Just a little?"

"They like you more than they like me, that's for sure."

Ruby laughs. That's when Regan comes into the room, carrying a large tin.

"Oh? We doing the Sushi Go thing?" I ask. "Awesome."

"You want in, Ruby?" asked Regan.

"I don't know what this 'Sushi Go thing' is," Ruby replies.

I grin. "You're in for a treat. Come on, it's actually really simple."

And thus was how we spent the rest of the evening: with cute Japanese food cards.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three: Woke Up This Morning, Got Yourself a Bow**

 _Ryan_

The next morning starts off like it usually does for me: headache, sore lats, and a prayer I don't get tunnel vision when I get out of bed. I unplug my earbuds from my laptop and put them into my phone so I can watch the LCK matches I missed on YouTube.

Danny is awake as well, but he's in the bed opposite mine doing something with his phone. He's likely texting his girlfriend. She's a fencer from Arizona and they'd been dating since my last semester of college, which was about two years ago. I pass the room Dad usually sleeps in, which is the room next to ours, and find Ruby there instead. She's still asleep, covered in two blankets and wearing one of Regan's hoodies, with a pillow over her face. I can't help but smile before heading down the hall, listening to PapaSmithy talk about the draft between KT Rolster and Afreeca Freecs.

Sarah is also already awake, because she went to take the dogs for their morning walk. That's usually part of Mom's routine, but she and Dad apparently didn't turn up during the night. Sarah waves a hand at me, then gestures at my ear as I enter the kitchen, taking a seat on one of the stools at the counter. I remove my left earbud. "Yeah?"

"Keep your voice down," Sarah warns. She's currently manning the stove with a pan, and she's got eggs, milk, two different cheeses (one dairy-free and one not), corn tortillas, and a small can of red enchilada sauce on the counter. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"Ruby."

"Wow. Not gonna be denied, are we?"

"You said just for tonight."

"Aight, fine." I get up for a moment, keeping one hand on the counter to ward off dizziness, and I peek down the hallway to make sure Ruby hasn't woken up yet. Regan is still sleeping on the couch's fold-out bed. Sarah's probably gonna hound me all day if I don't tell her, and I do owe her for lending Ruby her clothes. Is it possible I may be able to tell her everything without causing a freak-out?

 _I found this girl on the side of the road. She's from a different world, and she's a student at a school for people who hunt the Grimm we showed you when we got back from Del Taco yesterday. She's got a scythe that turns into a sniper rifle and a super power that basically makes her an adorable dork version of Reaper from Overwatch._

...nope, still too ridiculous. It's best if I just ease into this and let Ruby handle the finer details if the situation calls for it. It may come sooner than we'd like, but it'd be a lot easier if we could do it on our own terms. And not when we're still trying to make sense of a metric ton of crazy on both our parts.

"You know how I said I ran into Ruby in the neighborhood while I was chasing down Molly?"

"Yeah…?"

"...well, that's not _entirely_ accurate. In reality, I found her unconscious by the side of the road while I was getting her." Sarah blinks, trying to process the information. I take the opportunity to bring up the first photo I took yesterday on my phone to show her. "I also found this on a tree not far away."

She stares at the picture. "...are we sure that's not from a bear or a mountain lion?"

"Look at the size of those things. There's probably nothing in the wild that could even come close to making that in one try. Specially anything out here."

Sarah takes a breath. "So...what was she doing out there? Does she remember?"

I shake my head. "She can't remember much of anything of the day before we found her."

"So, she's amnesiac?"

"Of the short-term kind, but yeah, most likely."

Sarah folds her arms. "And you chose to omit this...why?"

"In three words? 'You're a creep!' In another three, 'you're a pedophile!'" I reply, mimicking Sarah and Regan respectively. "I figured everyone would raise less of a fuss if I said we'd known each other previously, _and_ in a non-romantic way."

"Gotta say, that worked out spectacularly for you," Sarah snarks.

"Ha ha ha. Ugh, spare me."

"I'm just saying, I'm pretty sure Mom would've been more okay if you'd just said something to that effect beforehand. I know you and Mom didn't always have the best of relationships, but you could at least have tried. I mean, you two were getting better..."

"Yeah. Too bad it required me contracting a deadly disease to get there."

Sarah drizzles the sauce into the egg and tortilla thing and adds cheese on top, split down the middle. "So does she _really_ have family up here?"

I shrug. "I know she has teammates."

"Teammates? So she's not alone?"

"That's the hope, anyway. I figured they may as well be close."

"What, are you thinking they all dropped in from that weird rainbow aurora thing that happened overnight on Friday?"

"It's the best I can think of at the moment. To be frank, though, I feel like I'd have better luck looking for the last decimal place of pi."

"What was that about pie…?"

"Ah, morning Ruby," I say as Ruby comes in from the hallway. And by the look of things, her first night here was not very pleasant, if her mussed-up hair and her rubbing at her eyes was anything to go by.

"What's for breakfast?" Ruby mumbles as she slumps into one of the recliners.

"Enchilada omelet," Sarah replies.

"Enchi-what?"

Sarah gives the two of us an incredulous look.

I shrug at her. "Don't look at me, I don't know what they feed her back home."

"It's like an omelet with peppers, cheese, and spicy sauce."

"Oh."

Sarah then leans in towards me over the counter and asks quietly, "Ryan, does Ruby know we can't stay here?"

"I mentioned as much yesterday," I nodded. "But I'm not leaving her alone here."

"We can't keep her."

"Chrissakes, she's not like Puppy Joe." I then think about what I just said. Mom had rescued Puppy Joe off the side of the road not far from home about five years ago. "...okay she is, but you know what I mean. This isn't some stray dog here, we're talking about a fifteen-year-old girl with no idea where she is!"

"Sounds to me like she's _exactly_ like Puppy Joe, At least to you. And considering that dog's history with Mom, Dad, and you, that's rather ironic," Sarah sighs, checks the pan, and then takes it off the heat. "Breakfast is ready," she calls into the living room. "Ryan, go get Danny, we need to talk."

I nod and retrieve Danny from our bedroom. As we all take a plate of omelet, Sarah immediately takes charge again. "Okay, guys. If you hadn't already noticed, Mom and Dad are still haven't come back yet and we haven't heard anything from the police yet."

"We haven't heard anything from Ruby's family, either, I assume?" Regan asks.

I shake my head. "Quiet as the grave."

Ruby gives an odd twitch at my word choice.

"So. Today is Sunday," Sarah continues. "Normally, we'd all be packing up and cleaning this place up so we could leave this afternoon. But, we're going to have to figure out a few things before we do."

"Like how Dad's car has a great big gaping hole in the back window and how to fix it," Danny says.

"How'd you even get it back to the cabin? I was certain it'd have to get towed to a body shop or something," I ask.

"Very, very carefully," Danny quips. "It still ran fine, just...yeah. Not a big fan of driving with a great big hole in the back. And the whistling from the smaller ones."

"We also had to move a lot of stuff to get it into the garage so no one could break into it overnight," Regan adds.

" _Anyway,_ " Sarah says. "If we can't get it repaired today, that means we have to get creative with how we're all getting home. We've got two dogs and four people, and only five seats in my car..."

Ruby fidgets a little. She seems to be getting the vibe that Sarah wants to dump her onto the police, like she said earlier. Did she maybe hear me and Sarah talking earlier? It would seem like the best idea, at least objectively. After all, nobody (except me) knows who she is and we can barely take care of ourselves, especially since Mom and Dad are still MIA. Someone's still gotta pay the bills and all that, and Sarah and Regan's salaries combined would barely be enough. Probably.

And yet, I don't want to leave Ruby here alone, in a foreign place where she can barely get around. Plus, she'd probably get shuffled off into the foster system once they find out she doesn't exist in any government database, like her friends, wherever they are. It's not like they can just deport her back to Remnant if they could.

I'm probably the least-qualified guardian in the world for Ruby. Hell, of the four of us, I'm probably the one in the most need of help because of all the crap I have to deal with. But I'd feel better if I could keep Ruby here with me, because I at least know who she is, what she's like (if only through our limited time together and what I know of her through RWBY) and what she can do. It's crazy, sure. But something in me can't help but think she'd totally do the same for me if our roles were reversed, somehow.

I clear my throat. "There is an alternative."

Sarah stares at me. She knows what's coming. And she's not happy.

"I could stay here with Ruby," I finish.

"...seriously?" asks Regan. She's also skeptical.

"I could."

"No. No way," Sarah says.

"What else am I possibly doing right now that's more important? I don't have a job, it's too late for me to enroll anywhere, I've literally been spending the last year of my life doing nothing but sitting on my ass, parked in front of a computer screen and fearing for my life. And Ruby's got nowhere else to go. This way, Ruby can stay up here with me in the cabin and off the streets. It'll give us a few more days to figure out what to do, we'll have someone already here in case someone finds Mom and/or Dad, and you all won't have to give up anything."

Sarah sighs. "I just...this is something the police should be handling."

"We've already had two separate run-ins with the police already; they're already handling this as best they can in between monsters from hell running amok. And looking for Mom and Dad on top of that. _And_ looking for Ruby's teammates as well."

"And you intend to stay here, cook meals for the two of you and everything? And actually pay for it, too? I don't think you-"

"Oh, Jesus Christ, Sarah, will you just-!?" I snap, standing up out of my chair, but after taking a moment, I just sit back down, biting back something harsh from leaving my mouth. As I do that, though, Ruby stands up from her chair as well and goes to the back porch to hang out with Molly or Puppy Joe, depending on who's out there at the moment.

An uncomfortable silence hangs over the room. Two straight days of fighting. Our family unity is starting to resemble wet Saltines.

"Sarah. My plan's basically the same as yours, the only thing that's different is that the most useless of the four of us gets to stay up here a few extra days and wait for the situation to play out. All I need is money for one trip to the grocery store and to leave your clothes here for Ruby to wear, which you agreed to do anyway. What in God's name could you possibly want out of this that you aren't getting already?"

"...to keep this family together," Sarah says softly.

My anger ebbs when she says that. It's probably the most straightforward answer to any question I'd thrown at her in any debate, and I can't help but agree. The world's spinning out of control around us, and the four of us together are the only real support we have right now. Danny and I are the only ones who ever spent more than a few months away from our family, and those days can get rough.

And for one of us, living away wasn't by choice.

"I do too. But whether you like it or not, Ruby is...I can't just pretend she's just...not real, or something we can just ditch like a sack of potatoes. She deserves better. And you know that."

Sarah stares at me. I stare right back, not wanting to back down.

Finally, she makes her decision.

* * *

 _Ruby_

I actually thought Ryan's family was actually pretty stable.

I guess that's probably because when I first met them, their parents were still around, and everyone was happy. Now that they're gone, and given that Ryan and I were attacked by the Grimm twice and already had a run-in with the police, everyone's lashing out. I don't know if Ryan and Sarah don't actually like each other or if it's just something like Weiss and Blake back before we knew Blake was a Faunus, or maybe like some of the arguments I had with Dad over becoming a Huntress. Hopefully with all the negativity the Grimm don't come prowling around.

I wish I could do something. I know I'm also at the center of why they're arguing, but I can't bear to see them like this.

Ryan finally comes out, downing another round of pills while he does. I stand up from my seat on the porch. "Well?"

"...I bought us a few more days," he replies. "We'll get someone to come fix the back window of Dad's car, then we'll go shopping for groceries and a few other supplies."

Well, that's a relief, at least. "How many more days?"

"Counting today? Five."

"...that's it?" I wilt a little. Only a little less than a week to find the others? If they're even here at all?

"It's not their fault, it's mine," he says. "If I could, I'd stay up here as long as we had to to find your friends. I'm the only one of us who's got the schedule to permit it, but, well, I can't due to...other issues."

I probably shouldn't ask, but I do anyway. "Does it have to do with that medicine you take?"

He groans a little, and I wonder if I said something to make him mad, but he just says, "Pretty much. Anyway, in the meantime we're going to be going to the store fairly soon and I'm gonna need a wingman, so..."

"Why me? I think I'll be fine here with the others."

"I'm sure you would. But every time we've gone out, the Grimm have shown up. Some might say I'm paranoid, I more think of it as having good pattern recognition skills. Anyway, I gotta help the others clean everything up so they can get out of here."

"Wait. If Sarah and Regan and Danny are gonna leave, doesn't that mean it's just gonna be us?" I ask. I mean, it'll be the first time I'll be sharing a house with a guy. Alone. Yang would probably like it if it were her. Me, though, not so much. Dad, even more so.

"You, me, and Molly. The girls have work and Danny's got school tomorrow, and they're going to take Puppy Joe because they can't take both him and Molly together. Not enough room in Sarah's car."

"Oh. Okay."

"Yeah, it's weird. But as I mentioned to Sarah, we're hardly lacking for space up here, so it's not like we're gonna be cheek by jowl."

"I know. It's just..." I poke my fingers together.

Ryan nods, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah..." After a bit of awkward silence, he starts heading back inside. "I'm gonna go and pull dad's car out of the garage so the window guys can get at it."

I nod, and right when he leaves, Sarah comes out. "Ruby, could you lend us a hand?"

Happy for another distraction, I nod and head inside as well. "What do you need?"

"Nothing special. We just need the sheets off the beds so we can wash them while we're packing up and put them back on later when they're out of the dryer."

"...why? Couldn't we just do that ourselves when we leave at the end of next week?"

"Ryan's gonna forget to do it and we don't want to leave this place with dirty sheets for the next people that come by," Regan says. She's already got a load of them in her arms. Danny's not far behind with the same.

"Is his memory that bad?" It does seem that way. It'd make sense as to why he forgot he already asked me questions about the Grimm.

"Eh, I'd say more like he gets distracted easily. Ryan's actually got a really _good_ memory. We're usually relying on him to remember things, especially when Dad's involved. He's the one who tends to have a faulty memory sometimes."

"Oh."

"You know, it's kind of nice having you around Ryan. Ryan wasn't always the social type," Danny says. "But ever since he got sick, he's been trying to reach out a bit more to people. Unfortunately, it's a little hard to do that behind a computer screen."

"Was it that bad?"

"You'll have to ask him," Sarah explains as she walks by.

Now I'm curious. And a little worried. I know I saw him taking medicine multiple times during the day yesterday and earlier this morning, but what would require him to take that much? I could guess it was something serious, but I don't want to ask him. Yet. It seems like it's a sensitive subject, what with the way he hides those little cups and why he said it was the reason we couldn't stay any longer.

The day continues to tick by. I mostly spend the time playing fetch with Molly in the backyard, trying to take stock of everything. I'm still trying to figure out how this world works. I mean, it basically looks like home. It acts like home. The fact that the Grimm are here, even when Ryan says they've never had to deal with them up until now, makes it feel like home.

And yet…it almost feels _bleak._ I remember asking Ryan why people wouldn't think we were heroes for saving people from the Grimm and all I got from him was "it's complicated." With that and the whole gun thing, this world almost feels dark and depressing for some reason, in a way that I can't really describe.

I hear car doors outside. When I go and see what it is, I see Ryan outside with his siblings, exchanging words as they start putting stuff in Sarah's car. After a few moments, Sarah, Regan, and Danny get in the car with Puppy Joe, and they drive off, leaving Ryan alone in the driveway.

I pass through the gate that leads to the driveway from the backyard. Ryan's leaning against the hood of his dad's car, and he looks…depressed, somehow.

"You okay?" I ask.

He nods. "Yeah. I just had a funny feeling."

"Like what?"

"…like I was never gonna see them again."

"Well, it's only just for a week or so, right?"

"True. But it's not the first time I'd felt this way. Even though it wouldn't be the last time, it still sticks with you, you know? You just don't know if the last interaction you have with someone is going to be the last one until it's too late."

"…I guess so." The closest I'd ever felt to something like that was when I left Patch to go to Signal. I don't know. It's just…something about Dad that kind of left me wondering. Then school started and I kinda had to put it away.

Ryan gets off the car as a white van pulls in from down the street. As he does, though, he happens to look back towards the yard. "…Ruby, did you close the gate?"

"Why?" I look back towards the gate. It's open. And there's no Molly.

"Son of a-" Ryan groans and runs to the street. "Molly! …dammit, not again."

"I'll go find her!" I say, and I immediately take off up the street. I don't have to look very long, and with a quick burst of Semblance I quickly snag Molly by the collar and start pulling her back towards the cabin. "See? Not a problem!"

Ryan grins, shakes his head, and goes to meet with the guy that just pulled up.

As it so happened, that was the guy Ryan called to fix the back window of his dad's car. Once that was all done and Molly was back in the cabin, Ryan scribbles some stuff on some paper after browsing his laptop for a bit, then says we need to get to shopping.

As we get to the store, I see a large number of posters taped to the wall near the door. There's at least twenty or thirty of them, all depicting different people, asking for information and giving numbers. There's even flowers on the ground near them. I guess Ryan's parents weren't the only ones to have vanished out of the blue in the last couple of days.

Ryan frowns, looking over them all for a minute or two before sighing and heading inside. "Jesus. You'd think the Rapture happened last night or something."

"The...Rapture?"

"It's a religious thing," he explains. "Sign of the end the world, basically."

"Oh..."

"Don't read too hard into it. End times preachers are usually all swindlers and hypocrites, anyway."

"Why?"

"Well, it's mostly because, at least in our religion, there's a specific quote in the text that basically says only God knows when the end of the world will come. And yet that hasn't stopped people from trying to predict the exact date in the past, saying they've seen the signs, the end is nigh, and we must all repent our sins lest we all burn in hell at the second coming," Ryan says. "Plenty of people have used that to fleece their flock dry, often just to boost their own ego or their checking accounts."

Seriously? What is up with this world? They sound more like Weiss's dad than people of faith, based on what little she's said about him. Ryan must have seen my expression when the thought crossed my mind, and he chuckles. "I know, right?"

"Why would people believe any of that?" I ask. "Or even contribute to that kind of thing? Don't they know they're being taken advantage of?"

Ryan bounces his head back and forth a couple of times, parsing the question. "Well, it may be obvious to the two of us, but for others, it's just one of those things you don't question. The world's gone topsy-turvy these last fifteen-and-some-odd years, but especially in the last two or three, and people need assurance that there's still something worth living for in the world. That there's still good in it, or a reason that these things happen. I mean, between global warming, terrorism, political snafu du jour, school shootings-"

"School shootings?"

Ryan winces, like he said something he knows he shouldn't have, but doesn't answer my question. "Whatever. Let's just stick to getting food."

Is that maybe one of the reasons why he said guns are a big issue around here back when I first met him? But when he says school shootings, he couldn't possibly mean what I think it means, right? Because if he does...I mean, who could possibly be so...evil? So twisted?

Never mind the Grimm. This world is plenty dark as it is without them.

* * *

 _Ryan_

I don't think I regretted anything as quickly as I did when I dropped the words "school shootings." I don't think Ruby would be quite the same if I told her some people in this world get it in their heads to take a couple of guns and go shoot up an elementary school somewhere in New England, kill a bunch of kids. You have to be a special kind of fucked up to kill kids.

But at the same time, I'm starting to think I'm doing Ruby a disservice. I mean, she fights shambling shoggoths borne of the negative emotions of humanity on a daily basis, not to mention the odd criminal and fanatics bent on equal rights by any means necessary, at the tender age of fifteen. Why on earth am I so bent on protecting her? And what is it I'm protecting? Her innocence? I'm probably confusing innocence with naivete, at this rate.

Thankfully, Ruby didn't ask me to elaborate, she just put on her headphones and went along with me through the aisles. I did catch her trying to stuff the basket with chocolate chip cookies a couple of times when she thought I wasn't looking. I did let up after a while, though, and let her take one. Just one, though. We really didn't need to be eating junk the rest of our time up here, and we had enough of it already. But then came the strawberries.

I must have missed the part where she's apparently hopelessly addicted to strawberries. I didn't put up as much of a fight with the strawberries because at least they're healthy and I figured I'd find some use for them somewhere.

It's better than my hopeless addiction to cheese, anyway. And Skittles.

With food squared away, I figured we had enough time to grab a couple of other things while we were out and about before returning to the cabin. So we quickly stopped at the nearby Best Buy.

And I found what I was looking fairly quickly. "Here."

"What is this?" Ruby asks, looking at it curiously.

"Burner phone. You said yours doesn't work, right? Well, this'll get you something to communicate with in the meantime. Keep it on you at all times, so if we get separated or have to split up for whatever reason, you can use that to coordinate with me. Just mind your data usage and it should last you at least a couple of months."

"Are you saying I could use this to call the others?" Ruby asks hopefully.

I shake my head. "Doesn't work that way. Seems to me your thing doesn't operate on any network we have here, otherwise it would've picked it up by now." Ruby sighs. "Oh come on, you know that would've been too easy."

"Easy would really be nice right now."

"Get used to disappointment. You'll live longer that way," I say.

I meant to say it as a joke, but Ruby's look says she doesn't buy into my humor the same ways my siblings, or hasn't been around me long enough to at least tolerate it. Sarah did joke one or twice that I've got the soul of an old man. At this rate, I'm not sure if I can say she's wrong. As we're on our way out, though, I notice that people appear to be running from something.

And that something is more Grimm. Three Beowolves.

Dear God, they're multiplying _._

"Ryan-"

"Yeah I know…!" The car's a good fifty feet away. We'll get cut off well before we get there. As I scan the area amidst the sea of people running for their lives from the three hellbeasts, I find Ruby's gone. Again.

Also, where's the key for Dad's car?

 _She didn't._

"Dammit Ruby!"

Sure enough, she somehow stole it right out of my hand and petal-dashed all the way to the car to go get it. The Beowolves go for her, but she grabs Crescent Rose from the trunk, prepares to take aim with the thing in rifle mode, and then stops when she realizes just how many people were around. I guess everyone in the storefronts around here decided it was quitting time and wanted out before they became shambling shoggoth sandwiches.

Not a _wrong_ reaction to have, per se. The problem is that Ruby was now firing into a sea of people and she didn't have a clear a shot as she thought she did. She instead transitions into scythe mode, leaping into the air over the Grimm's heads to draw their attention towards the empty Cabela's behind her. It's not much better of a vantage point. We need someplace that's not so packed full of people.

And in that moment, I was struck with one of the craziest ideas I'd had yet, and that was accounting for the fishtail spin I had pulled yesterday with the Tezcatli. I start running towards the doors of the Cabela's, pulling out my smartphone. With a few thumb presses, I pull up YouTube and queue up the most annoying song I could think of.

Sweet Melty Memes.

"I say! Were you all looking for me?" I yell.

The Beowolves drop Ruby like a proverbial sack of potatoes, even as Ruby looks back towards me, not knowing what was going on. That's when I realize that I just taunted three Beowolves and I don't have Aura. Unfortunately, I'm now committed to this course of action, so I turn and run into the store to the backdrop of a song I discovered while watching a Trolden video.

Not the most graceful of beginnings of a Huntsman, I must say.

Just as I'd hoped, the Cabela's is mostly empty. The problem is that the ailes make a lot of chokepoints. The Grimm are mostly feral, but they can be smart sonsabitches if I remember correctly. That means I have to stay somewhere out in the open so I don't get cornered. A weapon would make that situation less hairy, if only a little, but what am I going to use that I can find around here?

And then I see it. A recurve bow with an accompanying set of arrows behind one of the counters. Probably just a promotional piece, but I'll take it. I vault over the counter as best as my 6'1 frame would allow me and grab them off the stand.

Weapons, check. I stick the strap for the quiver in my mouth as I take an arrow from it and notch it to the bowstring as fast as I can. When I turn around and pull back, I find the Grimm are gone.

What?

"Ryan! Where are you?"

I hear Ruby calling me somewhere. I slowly step back over the counter, take my phone (which is still playing Sweet Melty Memes, by the way) and slide it across the floor in front of me.

A quadruped figure pounces from one of the ailes.

"Ha ha!" I fire.

It misses.

"Fuck." Now I've given away my position and lost the element of surprise. I take another arrow, notch it, and fire as the Beowolf starts going after me.

That one misses too. "This!"

I run another direction, zig-zagging through the aisles like I had just thought _against_ doing. I make my way back towards a nearby camping dispaly, and fire another shot.

Miss.

"Horse!"

The Beowulf snarls as it closes in for the easiest kill of its life. Thinking quickly, I grab a tarp from nearby and throw it right in the Grimm's face. It snarls and backs off just enough for me to get a shot at what should be point-blank range right at his head.

It bounces right off the Grimm's mask and does nothing. What!?

I pull out another arrow as it manages to unblind itself and it continues to stalk forward for the second-easiest kill of its life.

" _Shit!_ "

At least that's what I thought what I said, because it was lost in a pretty loud squelching noise as the Grimm's head is suddenly split in half like a watermelon. Ruby is standing behind its now-headless body with Crescent Rose in hand. She does not look amused.

"…well then."

"Dust, Ryan, what was that all about!?"

"Giving you open space to work."

"And that required you doing _this?"_

"It worked, didn't it?"

"Yeah, but you didn't have to do something like that. You could've gotten really hurt!"

I shrug. "What, and you don't take similar risks?"

"Well…I'm different!" Ruby huffs.

Jesus, she's really mad. I'd expect this kind of thing out of Weiss or Yang, but Ruby? What'd I do to set this off? Other than taunt three monsters that could easily kill me?

…come to think of it, why _did_ I even do that, anyway? It reminds me of the incident with the first Beowolf at the Del Taco. I did the exact same thing back then, too. No words, just action. So I pick up my bow, attach the quiver of arrows I have left to my waist, and start making my way back.

"Where are you going?"

"Getting my phone back."

"How do you know where it is?"

"Follow the memes," I say with a small grin. It's already moved onto another song (by the sound of it, it's Legends Never Die by Against the Current), and with the volume on full blast it's not hard to track down. As I go to pick it up, though, I hear the sound of claws clacking on linoleum.

Oh shit. I forgot there was more than one.

I quickly kick my phone backwards and prepare to fire another arrow, but the Beowolf's already on top of me. He knocks me flying with a swipe of its claws. I barely hear Ruby screaming my name around the ringing in my ears and my vision goes red for a couple seconds. I roll over, trying to pick myself up, and see Ruby launch herself right into the fray once more, scythe swinging. It goes down easy.

Yeah, I'm done pressing my luck. Time to go.

So, I slowly drag myself to my feet, put my phone in my pocket, and start heading towards the exit. There's this weird burning, fiery sensation across my chest and midriff, but I think I'll be okay. I can just try to sleep it off like I used to sleep off a lot of things in the hospital.

That's when my knees give out.

* * *

 _Ruby_

I know Sarah and Regan said that Ryan could be stubborn sometimes, but I didn't think it'd be like this! Man, and Weiss thought I could be a problem sometimes…

I put away Crescent Rose. It's hard to fight without utilizing the kickback trigger, due to Ryan's repeated warnings about guns, but young Grimm like these Beowolves we're fighting are fairly small, so they shouldn't really pose much of a threat, even to someone like Ryan. For as much as I like him and how he's helping me, I can't help but wonder why he's so adamant on fighting the Grimm with me. He keeps saying it's better if I had backup. And he's probably right. But I can tell he's not really the fighting type, even though he's got a bow and arrows on him now.

Weiss would say he's a "liability," or something like that. She'd probably be right. But she's not here, and neither is everyone else, so I'm willing to take anything I can get at this point. Besides, Jaune's kind of the same way, and he has Pyrrha helping him. I like to think it's the same thing at this point. As long as I'm here, I can at least help him suck a little less…

"Ryan?" I look back to where I saw Ryan last. He's slowly making his way back towards the car, but he suddenly falls to his knees, and his bow slips out of his hand. "Ryan!"

He doesn't reply. I zip over to him to stop him hitting his head on the pavement.

Ryan's hurt.

He's got three huge claw marks on his chest and stomach. His hands are dark red, and his shirt's wet. My own hands come up red, too.

"Oh no. Ryan-!"

"Yeah I know."

"Why didn't you say anything!?"

"I just noticed."

"There's gotta be a hospital nearby," I stand up, trying to look for where it could be. Of course, this is a shopping center, it's unlikely we'll find one here, but there's gotta be _somewhere_ I can take him! "Can you drive?"

"Maybe…?"

I try to pick him up, but he's too big and his strength is fading very quickly. He slumps against another car. His breathing's getting ragged. His eyes are unfocused. He's losing way too much blood. Why is his Aura not healing him? Does he even have Aura at all? Why wouldn't he? He had to know this was going to be dangerous!

I dig out my scroll. If he's got an Aura, I should be able to get a reading with it. I put him in the center of the screen.

 **SUBJECT NOT FOUND.**

"What!? No no no no no no-"

 **SUBJECT NOT FOUND.**

Is my scroll broken? Or...

No. Ryan doesn't have an Aura.

That's the only reason it's not picking it up.

 _WHY DOES HE NOT HAVE AURA?!_

I have to do something! If I don't, he's going to-!

An idea strikes me at that moment. It's crazy, it's dangerous, it's bound to get me into trouble if someone else from Remnant finds out, but it may be my only chance.

"Ryan, listen to me." Ryan groans in acknowledgment and his head lolls around. I grab it and keep it centered. "Ryan! Stay awake!"

"Trying," he replies.

"Ryan. There may be a way to save you, but I need you to listen carefully. I'm going to try to unlock your Aura."

"Say wha…?" His eyes focus for a bit, like he recognized what I was talking about. Or maybe it's just something else through his haze, it's hard to say.

"Aura is basically how I'm able to do all the things I do. It even will heal wounds. If I unlock your Aura, it might stop the bleeding...the thing is, I'm not entirely sure it'll work..."

"And the plan to do that is…?"

"Um...basically, I'm gonna use my Aura to jump-start yours. But it's really risky in your current state. I don't know what it's going to do to you, so there's bound to be...you know, side effects."

"Like what?"

I look away. "Oh, you know...explosions...death...death-like symptoms..."

He laughs a little. "Well that's okay then."

"Ryan!"

Ryan's hand suddenly is on mine. His eyes are starting to get distant. "Ruby...I met death before. I'm not afraid of him."

I'm confused. What did that mean? He's either trying to be brave for me or there's something I missed. Maybe it has to do with all those pills he'd been taking earlier. He must have sensed my where my thoughts were, because he adds, "If this works...I'll tell you what I mean by that. Deal?"

His eyes flicker for a moment. I'm running out of time. If I don't do this, I may lose my one chance to save him. "Deal!"

He nods, chuckles a little more, and then his head lurches forward.

"Ryan! No!"

I grab his hands and rest his forehead on mine, summoning up my Aura into my whole body, trying to reach out to him to feel a connection. That connection would give us what we need right now...at least, that's what Dad said when he unlocked Yang's Aura. I was mostly using that for reference in how to do this, because he talked her through the whole thing. Slow and steady breathing. Slow and steady...slow and steady…

I feel something. It's a warm sensation. That's fairly typical for Aura, but it's less like a general warmth and more like sitting next to a campfire. Words leave my mouth all by themselves.

" _For it is in passing, we achieve rebirth..._ "

I slowly begin to channel my Aura through my hands into his. I chance a look down. His body isn't responding.

" _Through this, we spread our wings and fly on winds of change..._ "

There's still nothing. Am I too late? I increase the Aura flow, reaching out to that flame. He can't be dead. He's not dead. I can't believe it. I won't!

I'm not gonna lose him.

I don't want to lose him.

I've already lost everything else, I can't lose Ryan, too.

" _Unburdened by death and untainted by fear...I give your soul new life...and raise you up..._ "

I open my eyes and exhale. Ryan's body is still, but it's glowing bright orange. That's his Aura, right? It has to be! I wait for a moment and let go. The glow is still there.

In fact, it's getting brighter.

That's...not supposed to happen. Right as I'm about to use my scroll again to check, there's a loud thunderclap. I'm blasted right into the wall of the store and soar right through.

That's _definitely_ not supposed to happen!

I ignore the pain in my back and get up. Ryan hasn't moved, and the glow is now just reduced to arcing lights across his body. On top of that, car alarms are going off in the lot nearby. I jump through the hole I just made and run back to him. Ryan's eyes are closed and he's limp. There's no sign of Aura that I can tell.

"No...Ryan...come on..."

My hands tremble.

"Ryan…? Wake up, please…"

He's dead.

"Ryan!"

He's dead, and I killed him.

What do I do?

What do I _do!?_

"HELP!" I call out.

There's no one there to answer.

"Someone!"

"...anyone?"

I shut my eyes and cry, holding on to Ryan's shoulders.

What have I done!?

"Ryan...you can't die…I need you here..."

What am I gonna do?

"Ryan...don't leave me all alone..."

What am I gonna tell his siblings?

What am I gonna tell his parents if I run into them somehow?

Gunfire. And more screams. That third Beowolf is still out there. I look back at Ryan. I'd almost say he was asleep if it weren't for the blood on his shirt and hands. And, you know, being dead.

"I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry..."

I kiss Ryan's forehead, pick up Crescent Rose, and take off towards the screams.

* * *

 _Ryan_

I open one of my eyes as I slowly start becoming aware of myself again. The last time this happened to me, I had fainted on a walking toilet in my hospital room due to a vasovagal reaction. Not one of my stellar moments, but then again I had just been baked like a burrito in a microwave for five days leading up to that, so I was pretty fried in more ways than one. As I began to arrive at full consciousness, I notice a few things.

First, Ruby's gone.

Second, my limbs are faintly glowing orange.

Third, I'm no longer bleeding like a stuck pig.

"Ruby?"

No answer, but there are sirens. They sound close by.

"Ruby, time to boogie, I think! Come on, I want to get back to the cabin." I slowly stand up, using the car door to brace myself. It's a lot easier than I thought it'd be considering the trauma I just went through. But when I get up, I still see no sign of Ruby. I see a hole in the wall, and a pile of rose petals on the ground at my feet.

Something's happened.

Grimm? Police? Either would explain the sirens. But where could she have gone? I pick up my bow from where it's fallen and reach for my smartphone. The screen's been cracked by something. Did that Beowulf cause that? No, it was in my pants pocket. The wounds don't go down that far.

So what broke it?

I look back to the car and see my reflection in the glare from the window. I'm still glowing orange. The wound is no longer fresh, but it's still angry red. Nothing is making sense. And where in the name of Bob fucking Saget is Ruby!?

I rub at my face, and then I see the blood caked on my hand.

It all rushes back at once. The Beowolf. Vision goes red. Ruby panicking. Something about unlocking Aura. Wait. Aura?

I catch the last sight of orange energy fading off my body. Ruby unlocked my Aura. She said it could probably save me. Looks like it did. I'd be super ecstatic about this if it weren't for the fact that my now three-time savior has apparently pulled a Batman on me...again!

"Ruby! I think your plan worked! You can stop hiding now, we need to get the hell out of Dodge!"

There's no reply.

"God dammit, not again."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: So This Is Where All the Missing Socks Go**

My name is Weiss Schnee. And my life has devolved into insanity.

As a child, my father always told me, my sister, and my brother something: "The child of the Schnee is a child of culture. They peruse the classics, the works of great authors and poets, and know them by heart. They study philosophy and the sciences, arts and accomplishments. They are pleasant and polite. Wise and witty. Well-read and well-bred. But more than that, they are strong as the mountain and twice as uncompromising. To be a Schnee is to represent the best of Atlas, and must uphold its virtues in their entirety, lest the world fall to chaos and anarchy."

I like to think that, in my own way, I still hold true to this. Even if the name Schnee has become tainted over the years.

But none of that could've helped me prepare for any of _this_!

It had all started when I woke up on the ground. I thought I had woken up in Emerald Forest. But what on earth would I be doing in Emerald Forest, because I'm pretty sure that was not the last place I was. Plus, all the trees were different in Emerald Forest compared to here. Whatever this was, this was not some place I knew.

Whatever, I thought. I'll figure out that part later.

So, next question: what was I doing before I got…wherever this place was?

I tried to retrace my steps in my head, but everything was just so foggy and blurred together I gave up and just tried to find my way towards the nearest path. My memory is usually so much better than this. Did someone drug me? I didn't know who, but they were going to suffer _very_ dearly when I find out.

Next question: where are the others?

That part should've been easy. I still had my scroll, so all I had to do is bring that out and…I had no signal.

Wonderful! This was all starting to pan out like that movie Yang brought to movie night where all the characters are trying to piece together the events of a night of drinking. I didn't really like it…okay, maybe I liked it a little, but that stays strictly between you and me.

After stumbling around for what seemed like a small eternity, I did find a path in the trees. Said path turned out to be a paved road, and a large truck happened to pass by and…

There must have been something wrong with its engine, because something was burning in it. It was this sickly, acrid smell that left me coughing for a few seconds. Once I could breathe again, I found that there were some houses on the other side of the road. I approached the door of one of them, took a deep breath, made sure I was presentable with a quick hand through my hair (and I find a couple of branches stuck in them…strange), and knocked three times.

An elderly woman with dark skin answered the door after a minute or two. Her eyes go down to Myrtenaster at my waist, and then back up to me. "Can I help you, dear?"

"I'm sorry, but could you help me?" I asked. "I've become lost and I don't know where I am…could you maybe tell me where this place is?"

"You're in Big Bear City," she said.

"…I'm sorry, where?" I'd never heard of this Big Bear City before.

She stared at me for a little bit, and then waved me in. "Why don't you come on inside, dear." I slowly stepped inside, appreciative of the hospitality but also trying to maintain my composure behind the panic slowly setting in. "What's your name?"

"Weiss."

"Mm," she seemed oddly intrigued. "Weiss…" For a moment I thought she was wondering if I was Weiss Schnee of the SDC (which would maybe suggest I ended up in Mantle or something), but then she said, "German for white, like your hair, I assume?"

"…sure, why don't we go with that?" I said, feeling a huge drop of sweat hanging off my temple. That wasn't a language I'd ever heard of. At least I wouldn't have to deal with any kind of aggression while I was here. Hopefully...

The woman laughed. "I mean, that's definitely quite some shade of platinum blonde if it's not white. Probably whiter than mine!"

This was all starting to become a huge, confusing mess. "So, Miss...um..."

"Call me Dolores, dear. Haven't been a missus for about five years now."

"Dolores...when I said I was lost earlier, I meant I have absolutely no idea where I am. I've never heard of Big Bear City before."

"So you're just passing through, then? Where you headed?"

"I...wasn't..." Where on Remnant would I be headed from here? I had no idea where "here" is. The best I could do is my ultimate destination. "Beacon Academy, in the Kingdom of Vale."

Dolores tilts her head, somewhere between confusion and intrigue. "Vale? Never heard of it."

I'm this close to screaming _what is wrong with you!?_ , but I reign myself in. Stay calm Weiss, be the Schnee your father isn't… "Perhaps if I had a map, you could show me…?"

"Let me see if I can help." She wandered off into one of the rooms, and then came back with a white scroll of some kind, tapping away at it and mumbling to herself. She finally placed the scroll in front of me with a picture. "Here you go, dear."

My worst fears were confirmed right then and there. Nothing on the map was familiar. The countries, the borders, even the continents themselves were completely unfamiliar. Did I somehow end up on the other side of the world? If so, how!? And why!? Nothing is making sense any more! And more importantly, how in the name of Dust was I supposed to get _back_ to Remnant from...wherever this is!?

"...I...I can't..."

This is all wrong. This is a holocaust of wrong. My brain, unable to handle any more stress, promptly shuts down.

I woke up a few minutes later on the floor, with Dolores kneeling over me.

"Oh, you're alright. Thank goodness, I was afraid I'd have to call an ambulance or something-"

" _No I am not alright!_ " Dolores recoiled as I shot up to my feet. "I mean, I'm in a place that I've never heard of, that apparently has never heard of where I'm from, and I ended up here by means of...well, I don't know how! How could I possibly be alright after any of that!?" I then return to my chair with a groan, my head in my hands, trying (and failing) not to cry under the stress of it all.

I felt a hand on my back. "Honey, if you need a place to stay, you're more than welcome to stay here with me."

"N-no, I couldn't..."

"Please, this place is plenty large for the both of us. I've had all my grandkids over and there was still space leftover."

I wasn't quite sure if such a thing were possible, and I wasn't quite used to this kind of charity from someone other than Klein. But with nowhere else to turn, I merely nod and spent the rest of the day trying to collect myself.

Which leads me to today.

So I wake up in the morning, in clothes that are maybe just a little too big for me, to find that Dolores has made some blueberry and lemon scones and a cup of coffee. In the meantime, she's watching the morning news on TV.

" _Police are still baffled by the appearance of strange creatures in some isolated areas of the country, including here in southern California. An amateur video that recently went viral on the Internet shows these creatures attacking a Del Taco in the area of Big Bear City yesterday…"_

"You ever see these kind of things?" Dolores asks me. "Things that look and act like werewolves? I'd almost swear someone was shooting a movie on location here and things got out of hand…"

I'm about to ask what a werewolf is until I see the thing on the TV screen she's referring to.

It's a Beowolf.

It had to be, I'd recognize that shape anywhere!

"Thing is, I know some people in the police department here, I met a couple of them for lunch yesterday and they said they'd never seen anything like it. Especially since they said they cordoned off the area overnight and when they went back the next day, the corpse of the beast was gone."

Sounds like Grimm alright. As the video plays again, I see a familiar red figure show up on the screen.

I almost spit out my coffee.

That's Ruby!

It had to be Ruby. Nobody else could stand out like that in a fight against the Grimm. It was only a blur of red, but who or what else would be so fast and trail rose petals behind them as they do?

"Weiss? You okay, honey?"

"Sorry," I mumble.

"Was the coffee too hot?"

"No, it's just...that 'Del Taco' place. Where exactly is that?"

"The one here? It's off the main road going through town, about five or ten minutes away."

My mind starts racing. Ruby could still be here. It's only been a day. If Ruby's still here, I could definitely use that as a starting point to find her. Blake or Yang would probably be better at trying to re-trace her steps, but I would think it wouldn't be that hard to find a girl who's that fast and carries a scythe nearly twice her size. I take the scroll Dolores had brought out yesterday, trying to navigate its interface to find what I'm looking for. Thankfully, I'm able to find a copy of the video I'd just watched. I spend ten minutes rewinding the small clip and re-watching it, trying to find even the smallest clues.

Unfortunately, there's not a lot to show. The clip's too short and it's not of good enough quality to determine anything other than what's going on, although I'm definitely convinced it's Ruby. The one thing that sticks out to me is that Ruby didn't apparently get have Crescent Rose on her person, she had to get it out of a car. Why would she do that? And more importantly, whose car was that?

The only way to know for sure is to try and retrace Ruby's steps. That should be easy enough...hopefully.

"Weiss? Is something wrong?"

"I think I know that girl," I say, getting up from the table.

"Is she from where you're from?" Dolores asks. She's starting to get it.

"She might be. The only way to know would be to head out to there and examine the place for myself."

Dolores hums, mulling it over as she stares into her own coffee cup. "Well...I _suppose_ we could take a trip there. I need to go into town and get some things anyway. Though I gotta ask, what exactly are you hoping to find there? Police probably picked the place clean already."

"I don't know," I admit. "But I guess I'll find out when I get there."

"Whatever you say," Dolores says idly.

I spend the rest of the morning trying to study up with Dolores's tablet on whatever I can about this area. It appears I'm in some kind of mountain resort area, although peak season was over some time ago. Any other news of the incident involving Ruby and whoever her friend is appears to be has mostly been reduced to speculation and things I already know, and looking around forums turns up much of the same. More than a few of them think they're from some kind of show on the Internet (the Internet being some kind of information network similar to one we have with scrolls and CCTV towers back home), but that's purely speculation as well or just circumstantial.

This would be so much easier if I had a starting point for all of this. I should start making a list of things I need to research.

* * *

Big Bear City is actually a very nice place, in its vaguely Emerald Forest-esque landscape. Having spent so much time in Atlas where there wasn't a lot to see except sky in every direction and snow, the sight of colors still takes my breath away sometimes. Unfortunately, there's no time to stare at the landscape. Now back in my regular clothes (freshly washed thanks to Dolores), I take stock of what I have as we head out into town in Dolores's car.

I have my scroll, but without a network to connect to, it's pretty much useless at the moment. I also have a suitcase of extra Dust I brought with me, which I tend to bring along for extended missions or if there's a large amount of Grimm in an area that might require re-supply for myself or the others. It's mostly the elemental variants: fire, ice, lightning, earth, with a bit of gravity Dust for Ruby and energy Dust to use for myself. Of course, Dolores's car doesn't appear to run on Dust, so it's basically just an energy booster for Myrtenaster.

"What exactly are you hoping to find when we get there?" asked Dolores.

"I don't know. I expect we'll find a clue. She had to have left something behind if the video I saw was accurate," I reply.

"Something maybe the police wouldn't find?"

"It's tenuous as far as leads go, but it's the best I've got. Maybe she would have left something behind that only I would be able to find."

Unfortunately, that's a lot of wishful thinking on my end. It's something I would do, anyway, but knowing Ruby, that'd probably be the _last_ thing she'd do, and she probably just ended up treating it as another fight. Which then begged the question: who was that other guy in the video that was keeping Crescent Rose for her in his car? A local? Maybe he's the one who discovered Ruby and took her in? At least that meant she was okay. At least, she had to be.

She _better_ be, anyway.

Dolores's scream of surprise cuts me out of my thought. "Lord have mercy-!"

It's followed by a slamming of brakes as something huge and black crosses the windshield, and a loud _thump_ is quick to follow after that. And then the black thing gets right up.

Dolores ran over a Beowolf with her car. And naturally, it didn't do much except anger it.

"Dolores-"

"Hang on!" Dolores shifts into reverse and backs up as fast as she can, but she's quickly cut off by a flood of people crossing the street from a nearby shopping center, screaming. Did that Beowolf come from there?

"What is that thing!?" Dolores asks. "Isn't that the thing from the news report!?"

I don't answer. I just unbuckle myself, get out of the car, and draw Myrtenaster. It may be just one, but there could be more nearby. Beowolves do tend to travel in packs, usually around six or so, but there could be as many as twenty and nobody would know, and I'm already severely limited in my capacity with Dust. Better make this quick.

The Beowolf snarled, looking between me and Dolores for a minute before jumping to the side, probably to pull Dolores out of the car for a quick kill. I vault over the car on a glyph, stabbing it once through the chest before pushing it away with another glyph. With Dolores still boxed in by people crossing the road, I'm the only thing between the Beowolf and her. The Beowolf charges, trying to reach around me on account of its large armspan, but I leap up, stab it right between the eyes, and then push it away again. Then, I add a little yellow Dust for good measure, unleashing a yellow blast of lightning to finish it off. Most of the people did start dispersing around the corpse because of where it fell, but plenty of them have fallen to the ground for cover after the thunderclap of the lightning blast I just unleashed. They eventually get up and continue running in whatever direction to safety they could find.

"Weiss?"

I turn around to see Dolores slowly get out of her car. "Dolores, wait, it's not safe here-!"

"Did you see that? The lightning? Almost like God went and smote the bastard himself-"

Now I'm even more confused than before. Did she not know about the Dust? That's like not knowing people need food and water to survive. Just how backwards is this town and how did it survive this long if it didn't know any of this stuff to begin with!?

"Ruby! Time to boogie, I think! Come on, I want to get back to the cabin."

With most of the people cleared out of the area, it's now eerily quiet, save for the shouting of one man. But it's the name that catches my attention.

Ruby.

Ruby's here?

"Ruby! I think your plan worked! You can stop hiding now, we need to get the hell out of Dodge!"

Or Ruby _was_ here?

"God dammit, not again."

I turn to Dolores. "Stay here."

Dolores nods silently, staying by her car as I make my way into the parking lot. Something about this is strange. I know Dolores said that people thought the first Beowolf attack was some kind of publicity stunt or something, but I assumed that was because the Grimm kept their distance in this area. Now I'm starting to think nobody in this town's actually _seen_ a Grimm before. Add that with Dolores not knowing about the Dust, I can't decide whether to be happy such a place actually exists or be concerned at just how ignorant everyone is.

"Okay. You almost die, Ruby tries to save you…"

I take cover behind a car, trying to track the source of who's talking. As I peek out, I see a man, tall, bearded, hair hidden under a hat. He's got a broken scroll in his hand. Not one from Remnant. His shirt is torn, and the skin I see underneath is red. One of his hands is red, too. He's been wounded at some point. He's also got a bow over one shoulder and a quiver hanging from his hip.

"You nearly die, but she thinks you're dead, and now she's gone and you're here and she didn't even take the burner phone you bought for her earlier. Mother of God, Ruby, why you gotta do this to me…?"

I quickly start formulating a plan. I might be able to catch him off-guard if I approach from a flank-

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

Well. So much for that. I peek out again, and he's taken an arrow out of his quiver, scanning the area. Did he hear me? Or maybe he's just on edge? Most likely the latter, he's not looking in my direction. As he checks behind him, I make my move. I use a glyph to launch myself upward, clearing the short distance to get behind him. By the time he's realized what's happened, I have Myrtenaster at his throat.

"Don't move."

His hands go up, and I see him crane his head a little. He's still holding that arrow.

"Drop the arrow."

"Easy, easy..."

His fingers come off the arrow one by one, but then he flips it around between two of them and tries to thrust it backwards like a dagger. As I use another glyph to stop his arm, he takes his other hand and directs Myrtenaster's point away from him, turning to face me. I just disengage under his maneuver and go right back to threatening his throat. "Nice try."

His eyes flash with recognition. "...Weiss Schnee?"

A bit of me swells with pride at finally meeting someone who recognizes me. But then I remember that _this is not Remnant_ , and the pride is immediately replaced with suspicion. Still keeping his extended arm frozen, I turn the point from his throat to the center of his forehead. "How do you know who I am?"

"I'm a friend of Ruby's."

"And that is who…?" I have to be sure.

"Ruby Rose. Your team leader? Fifteen, short, wears red, hyperactive, kind of a dork, really likes chocolate chip cookies and strawberries? She was _very_ descriptive."

That's her alright. "Who are you?"

"Ryan."

"Okay. Ryan," I dispel the glyph on his wrist. He exhales, but I still keep Myrtenaster pointed at him. "How did you find Ruby, what were you doing with her, and where is she now?"

"In order, I found her yesterday on the side of the road and took her back home, we were shopping around and then Grimm attacked, and haven't the slightest idea."

"How could you lose her!?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure I died at some point," Ryan says. "Hard not to when you take a shot like this." He gestures at his torso.

Now that I'm able to see him properly, I now see just how large the wounds are. How he lived, I don't know. And if Ruby assumed her only lifeline had died, well…

"So now we'll just have to find her together," I say, trying to piece together a plan. "I assume this is your car?"

"No, mine's the next one over," he gestures to a car with an open trunk. "Unfortunately, we got a problem there."

I sigh. Of course, that would be too easy. "What is it?"

"Ruby took the keys with her when she went go get her weapon. Aaaaand she might have taken them with her."

"I...what? Why!?"

"Probably forgot she had them. But without them, I ain't going nowhere," Ryan shrugged.

"And you have no idea where she is."

"Obviously," Ryan huffed, returning his arrow to the quiver and folding his arms. "I doubt she could've gotten very far on foot, though, unless someone gave her a ride. If only we had a clue where she could've gone..."

We just kind of stand there in the mid-afternoon sun, thinking about what to do. Time is precious in this kind of situation, and who knows what kind of trouble Ruby could end up in the longer we wait? Ryan seems to have the same thoughts going through his head. And then, he suddenly has an idea. "There is one thing we can try…"

Ryan proceeds to pull on a couple of latches, pushing down the back seats of his car, and then jumps into the back seat over bags of what appears to be groceries. "What on earth are you doing in there?"

"Knowing Ruby," Ryan explained, his voice muted by the driver's side window. "She would probably take on the Grimm if they showed up again. The police, meanwhile, also know about the Grimm and will likely report on any Grimm appearances for backup."

I was about to ask why they would need help with the Grimm, but then I remember I'm the only one (or at least, one of three) people with Aura in this whole town. "Continue."

"In any case, we would want to try to find a way to get an eye and an ear on them so we would know if they showed up. And I have just the thing!" He opens the door, and comes out with something black in his hand. "Ta-da! Dad's short-band radio!"

"...and what is that going to do to help us?"

"Dad normally uses this to listen to airplanes talking to the towers at local airports. But they also come with a few other features as well, including..." He turns a knob and then pushes a couple buttons. "A police scanner. Now, all we have to do is listen for a call to come in and beeline right for it. Now all we need is another mode of transportation and we'll be golden...you wouldn't happen to know how to hotwire a car, would you?"

"Of course not!" What on Remnant did Ruby put into this man's head, thinking I would know how to do that?

"Figured I'd ask," Ryan puts up his hands.

I grab one of them and start pulling him back to where I left Dolores. "Come on. I know someone who could help us."

* * *

 _Ruby_

I don't know how long I've been running.

I can't get Ryan out of my head.

It's just like what happened with Mom.

He didn't deserve to die.

So why?

 _Why!?_

It's not fair.

It's not _fair!_

What am I gonna do?

What _should_ I do?

I need Yang.

I need my friends.

I need someone I know.

Someone, anyone, help me.

I finally see police cars. They're outside this place that's stacked high with logs.

A logging camp?

No, it's a store for firewood.

I catch a familiar black form past the cars and the wood.

It's a Beowolf.

Is it the same one that killed Ryan?

It could be.

My eyes burn.

I'm gonna make you pay for what you did!

I launch into the air with Crescent Rose, over the barricade and at the Beowolf. It jumps away from the attack and dashes further in.

"Get...back here..."

Why do I feel like I'm slowing down?

I whirl as I catch a flash of black past a pile on my left. Darn, I just missed it.

I close my eyes, trying to pick out where it could be coming from.

There! Up above!

I swing Crescent Rose, trying to catch my enemy as it passes above me.

I got it, but it wasn't enough.

Another on my right!

Wait, there was more!?

I use my Semblance to dash to the right, but somehow, I suddenly lose all speed.

My cloak's caught.

The Beowolf's got me in its mouth.

The world spins for a moment, and I go flying through the air.

And then, black.

* * *

 _Ryan_

Dolores's Cadillac is roughly her age but is pretty much pristine. I hadn't been in a car older than my dad's 1980-something Mazda, and that had been back when I was very, very little. But sitting in it was almost like being in a time machine, big and square with leather seats. I took the back seat at Weiss's instance (I have no idea _why_ she was so adamant) and spent much of the time adding arrowheads to the arrows I had taken from the store. I don't know how much more effective I'll be with my Aura, but at least by adding some actual points to these things, I should do a bit more damage this time. I also added a wrist guard because, well, of course.

"So you know Weiss how?" Dolores asks me from the driver's seat.

"Friend of a friend."

"Are you from this Vale place as well?"

"No. I'm from Indio."

"Ah, the Coachella Valley, I see. Nice weather?"

"Only in the fall. Winter's too cold, spring is too windy, and summer...well, you could guess."

"How hot, exactly?" Weiss asks.

"110 degrees plus, easy. There's been days of 120 and higher, too."

Weiss settles into the seat, looking out the window. She seems a little...irritated, I guess? I would ask why, but I go back to putting arrowheads on. The radio's been silent up until now, even though I managed to find the police scanner setting. My leg's been twitching non-stop since I got in, which is usually my number one sign of anxiety. I don't know if it's because of being in this car with Dolores and Weiss, because I'm just desperate to find Ruby, or I'm still trying to shake off almost dying. Again.

I'm starting to wonder what, if anything, God has planned for me if I manage to make it through all this. It'd better be an epic reward, I swear.

" _All units be advised, unknown person has just entered the crime scene at Fox Farm Road at -_ "

"Hey guys!" I call from the back, putting away the quiver and whatever arrows I had put heads on, trying to place the directions in my head. Fox Farm Road was the main road heading through town towards the summit. "Where is that, Dolores, do you know?"

Dolores nods. "The only thing that would be there is the firewood shop further up the road. Why would those creatures be there?"

"They're probably looking for easy prey," Weiss replies. "This town's probably full of them. Are you sure Ruby would've headed there?"

"I'm not, but it's the only lead we've got, so that's my story and I'm sticking with it. Can't this rickety crate go any faster!?"

"Well, pardon me if I'm trying not to hurt people trying to get to safety-"

"Up there!" Weiss suddenly pointed. Sure enough, the Big Bear City PD is already on site, lights on and in the midst of cordoning off the street with police tape.

The car hasn't stopped moving by the time I get out, hitting the ground running as I run towards the scene, bow in one hand and putting the quiver on with the other. "Ruby! Ruby!"

The policeman with the tape tries to stop me as I pass by him, but I just breeze right by, trying to head in. I'm pretty sure Weiss is right behind me, but I'm a man on a mission and can't be bothered to check. There's only one way in, and the place is stacked high with long logs to be cut down to size, creating a veritable maze of dead wood that I could see, and a couple cars are parked in front of the gate, probably to keep the Grimm from getting an easy exit out through the front way.

A fat lot of good it would do against those things.

"Mr. King?"

I stopped cold. I recognized that voice, one that I wasn't hoping to run into so quickly. Sure enough, Detective Alvarez is there, armed with a large rifle and looking rather displeased that a civilian just entered an active police situation.

"Ruby...I think...um... _we_ think-"

"Listen, calm down, let me escort you back to the perimeter-" Alvarez starts pushing me back the way I came.

"I can't! Ruby, she-"

"Listen, we've already sent drones in to scan the area, we'll know if she's-"

"This can't wait!"

"What on earth happened to you, you're a mess-is that _blood?_ "

"Long story! Not important-"

"Ryan!" Weiss finally shows up with Dolores not far behind, the latter carrying something. "Have you lost your mind!?"

"Honestly, I don't care anymore-!" Weiss rolls her eyes and then proceeds to take Myrtenaster (earning a step back from Alvarez as well) and thwack me over the head with the flat of the blade. "Ow."

Weiss comes forward, trying to pull me back with her off hand. "I'm so sorry, sir, he's just been on a tear since he and my friend were separated, and-"

"Friend?" Alvarez tilted his head. "Okay, both of you need to settle down, and start from the beginning. What happened, and why did that require you crossing the police tape?"

I give Alvarez a brief rundown of the situation leading to now: going shopping only to run into the Beowolf ambush. I left out the part about stealing the bow and arrows and Ruby unlocking my Aura and just say I was thought to be dead because of the wound I received.

"And you think Ruby came here?" asked Alvarez.

"It's a long shot, but she may have run off to continue hunting the creatures. We heard about this on a police scanner and figured it was a good first place to look."

"Well, we did hear about creatures matching the description of the ones you gave and how they matched up from yesterday's incident," Alvarez said. "As well as hearing about someone in red entering as they were running. But we hadn't seen either her or those things yet and only just now started establishing a command post. I know you're worried about her, but I need you to-"

"INCOMING!"

There was a shout from the barricade at the gate, and sure enough, a Beowolf comes tearing through, climbing over the cars and shrugging off bullets easily. Alvarez actually shoves me and Weiss off to the side, taking aim with his rifle.

THOOM.

My left ear starts ringing as a loud boom, something akin to God slamming a car door, sounds about a yard or two off from me.

That thing Dolores was carrying? As it turned out, she's got her hands on a 12-gauge shotgun and is firing into the Grimm.

And while it didn't appear to do much, like me with my arrows back at the store, it definitely seems to have registered an impact. The Beowolf turns to face her, only to get a neck full of Myrtenaster from Weiss. Dolores notices my gaze as she ejects the shell. "What?"

"What on earth do you have a shotgun for?"

"Ain't it obvious?" Dolores shrugs.

"...well, _yeah_ , I'm just saying!"

Dolores just stares at me with a look that has my brain interpret it as _1-800-COME-ON-NOW_. What on earth is she looking at me like that for? Then my brain catches up to what my mouth did. "I mean why would you need that _here_ , it's nothing based on-"

"It'd better not," Dolores says flatly.

"Can we focus, please!?" Weiss snaps.

"Yes! Please! Literally anything else!" I turn back to Alvarez. "Detective Alvarez!"

"Mr. King?" Alvarez looks towards me.

"Where's Ruby?"

"From where witnesses have described, somewhere back that way. They said it was a great red blur that got knocked over in that direction."

"Perfect," I unshoulder my bow and start making my way past the cars.

"Wait!" Weiss blocks my path. "You're not thinking of going to find her, are you?"

"I'm not leaving without Ruby. I'm going to find her and bring her home."

"With your Aura? Absolutely not."

"The hell does that mean?" Weiss proceeds to grab me by the arm again and pulls it to her. "Ow ow ow ow-!"

Weiss quickly sticks Myrtenaster into the ground and pulls out her scroll, holding it over my extended forearm. An orange bar appears on the bottom. "Your Aura is already low because your body hasn't had time to adjust. If you go out there like you are now, there's no guarantee you'll come out of there alive!"

I fix Weiss with my best glare as I pull my arm back. "All things considered, Miss Schnee, I should've been dead a year and a half ago. If I die here...well, I guess that particular bill had to come due sooner rather than later. But I'd rather die saving a friend than wasting away in a hospital bed any day of the week and twice on Sundays. So get out of my way, or I will run you over."

Weiss doesn't move, matching me glare for glare. Just then, another Beowolf makes its presence known, tanking its way through the gunfire as it tries to leap on Alvarez and the other cops. Weiss summons another glyph, shoving it back. I take that as my opportunity and dash into the forest of firewood. The last I hear of Weiss is her yelling "wait!" at my back before she's interrupted by a Beowolf snarl.

I'm on my own now.

* * *

I'd played my fair share of video games. I mostly played things like League of Legends, but I had others, and there were some first-person shooters in the mix: Overwatch, Rainbow Six Siege, Warframe (technically it's third-person, but whatever. I like space ninjas). Rainbow Six is a particular favorite of mine, because I like the slower, more methodical approach to a shooter than to just run in guns ablaze and shooting anything that breathed so long as it had a different hat than your own.

Of course, Rainbow Six was just a "training simulator." Purely a work of fiction I would spend wiling the days of my recovery away. This is real life, and being in an actual hostage situation (kind of) instead of prowling hallways with Dokkaebi and her Mk 14 EBR just took my anticipation and fear and amplified it like it was mic'd up and onstage at Coachella. I have to stop once or twice to clear stars from my head, thinking it was blood loss, but I think it was because I just forgot to stop breathing. I'm constantly on the balls of my feet, checking corners with my bow and sometimes my phone in case I wanted to be sure.

Anyone smart would've just left this to the police. Scratch that, anyone _sane_ would've left this to the police. Anyone smart would've left it just to Weiss. But no, my sanity apparently left me a long time ago. I'm still not sure if that's a good or bad thing.

Maybe it's both.

I slide around another stack of logs, slowly drawing my bow for a shot at a Beowolf I was sure would be coming right for me.

But I don't find one.

Instead, I find Ruby.

She's sprawled on the ground in the middle of a pile of broken firewood. She's not moving.

 _Am I too late? Please, God, don't let me be too late…!_

I hear growling, and something smacks me into another pile on the opposite side. Amidst the swirling stars in my eyes, I see another Beowolf, slowly stepping towards Ruby's body to probably finish her off.

The stars vanish all at once.

"Yo! Eat someone your own size, you bitch!"

The Beowolf turns, and from my half-sitting position, I fire a shot from my bow using my teeth to pull.

It goes into the Beowolf's ear. It doesn't do much other than piss it off. Mission accomplished, I guess?

I pry myself from the firewood, pulling out an arrow to wield like a dagger like I did with Weiss. There's no way they're gonna let me just pelt them at range. A smart man would've taken a knife, too, but it's too late for that.

The Beowolf snarls and promptly charges. I duck underneath, positioning myself between it and Ruby as I thrust it into its wrist as it whizzes over my head. It howls in pain, and then tries to pounce on me again, arrow still stuck in its arm. I brace myself by crossing my arms over my head, and it hits me like a semi. However, while I can still feel the claws raking against me, I don't see any more blood.

It still hurts like hell, and all at once I feel a surge of energy unlike anything I've felt before. I gather both of my legs under me and kick, which is enough to send the Beowolf clean across the area. It hesitates, wondering what the hell just happened, and I seize the opportunity. I quickly notch another arrow into the bow and fire.

It misses.

The Beowolf goes for me again. Not wanting to leave Ruby exposed, I plant my feet, drop my bow, and take the last two arrows I have. This is something Dad used to tell me about. Back in middle school, he had a bully constantly after him, and one time, he decided enough was enough and stopped and left his fist extended. Guy ran right into his fist and knocked the air clean out of him.

Of course, that was a human being back in the 60's. I'm up against a beast from hell, and he's mad like it to boot.

But I don't have a lot of choices. I can't shoot for shit at range and there's no way it'll let me get a surprise shot.

I have to do it.

I have to save Ruby!

I thrust my arms out as it comes flying in.

Contact.

I feel claws scything up my arm and past my cheek, but I stand my ground as it falls right into the trap, arrows digging into its chest as it roars in more pain and a bit of shock as well.

And in that instant, I let go of one arrow, pull out the other arrow, and scoop the bow up from the ground.

I notch it and aim for a snap shot right underneath the beast's jaw.

"BACK TO THE POUND WITH YA!"

Thunk-splat.

The Beowolf teeters, and then falls over, the arrow sticking up through its mouth and into its brain, black and red bleeding into the air.

I did it.

...holy shit, I did it!

I roar a victory roar, throwing up my hands and bow. It's all I can do in that moment of having dodged death three times, twice in the same day. I guess God still has faith in this broken servant of his. As I revel in my feeling of victory and adrenaline and try to catch my breath around my wildly-beating heart, I suddenly remember why I'm here.

"Ruby!" I put away my bow and scramble over to her. "Ruby..."

She doesn't move. I check her body for any visible sign of injury and find nothing. She's not bleeding from anywhere I can see, I don't see any bruises on her head, and (with a quick prayer that Weiss or Alvarez don't just randomly show up), I place my ear on her chest. I can hear a heartbeat, and she's still breathing, albeit very very softly.

I relax a little. Ruby's alive. I'm guessing her Aura allowed her to tank through whatever the Beowolves did to her but the pain knocked her out. I do remember that much about Aura that even though you don't show signs of injury, it doesn't dull pain. It would certainly explain why my claw wounds from earlier still feel like I got mauled again.

Suddenly, Ruby stirs, eyes half-open. "...Ryan…?"

I hush her, putting my hand on her head to stop her moving. "It's okay. I got you, Turbo. Just, whatever you do, don't fall asleep."

"When's...breakfast…?"

And she promptly closes them again. A wave of panic sets in. I fear the worst, but no. She's snoring a little.

She actually fell asleep.

After getting walloped by Beowolves and watching her only lifeline in this country (almost) die, she falls asleep.

I sigh, though it's less out of relief or annoyance and more just because _that's just adorable._

* * *

 _Ruby_

…

"...s..."

"...ing, rea..."

"...honey..."

"...so she knocked herself unconscious?"

"More than likely. She probably overtaxed her Aura, no thanks to you."

"Wow, really? That's the tone you're going with."

I slowly lift my head. Someone is carrying me down the road. There's no Grimm. I guess I managed to finish off the pack. That's good, because I'm really tired. And hungry. Between fighting the Grimm and trying to unlock Ryan's Aura, I probably blew through most of my supply.

"I'm just stating the facts. Unlocking someone's Aura is a very draining ritual. And doing it while there's Grimm around is begging for trouble."

"You can state the facts all you like, just spare me the indignation. It's unhelpful and I get enough of that from my sisters."

"Whatever. You said you lived nearby?"

"My grandpa's cabin is not far from here. Ten minutes at most. Thank God, too, because I am in desperate need of fresh clothes."

Wait a minute. That voice-!

"Ryan!?"

"Oh hey, she's awake."

I'm shocked to the point I almost fall out of Ryan's arms. I grab his neck on reflex, and he stops, allowing me to come down to earth.

Ryan's alive.

How is he alive?

He's still got those claw wounds on his body. They've healed, or at least they've stopped bleeding. His hands are still covered in his blood, but it's dry.

This can't be real. I'm hallucinating, right? Or I'm dead. Or I've gone insane. Any one of those three would totally explain this.

"Ruby!"

I look next to Ryan, and there's Weiss. Also there is some old woman with a twelve-gauge shotgun. "Weiss? Ryan, where'd you find her?"

"She found me, actually," Ryan said. "But that's not important...how're you feeling?"

I don't answer. I can't. I'm just staring at his freshly-healed wounds and trying to block out the images from earlier that day. Ryan's alive, his Aura's unlocked, and Weiss is here now. That meant Blake and Yang were probably nearby, too. I should be happy. But all I feel is more guilt. Ryan turns to Weiss. "Weiss, Dolores, could you maybe give us a moment alone?"

"Why?" Weiss asks.

" _Please._ " Ryan's tone shifts to something harder.

"Come on, child," Dolores says, leading Weiss further down the path. Weiss looks from me to Ryan to Dolores, rolls her eyes, and makes her way back.

Then Ryan opens his arms. "Come here. Give me a hug." When I don't move, he instead comes to me and wraps his long arms around me. And I start crying all over again. "I'm sorry I put you through that."

"I thought you were dead..."

"So did I, frankly."

"I shouldn't have left you..."

"You couldn't have known. But here we are, and everything's over for now. You can stop worrying for the moment." I nod, wiping away at my eyes and my nose. Ryan lets go. "Come on, let's get out of here. I think I feel Weiss's glare crisping my neck."

"She does that sometimes." As we start walking back, I suddenly remember something.

Ryan was carrying me.

In his arms.

Like a _princess_.

Why am I blushing? Stop it, face, we're just supposed to be friends!

Ryan has me sit down on the bumper of a nearby ambulance back at the entrance. A couple paramedics come in behind Weiss and Alvarez, and Ryan moves over. After a couple minutes of poking and prodding me, they turn back to Ryan and Weiss and that other lady. "She's going to be okay, I think. Kind of amazing really, it looks like she doesn't have any injuries at all. We'll make sure she's stable, but I think she should be able to released here."

"So we can take her home?" Ryan asks hopefully.

"Yes. Although, I would take her to her doctor sometime in the next couple weeks just to be sure."

Ryan pumps a fist and I think mutters "Thank you! Jesus Christ!" under his breath before they also sit him down next to me to check him over. Thankfully, he's not any more injured than before, except maybe for a nice bruise on the back of his head. Of course, I'm still just staring at the three large marks on his lower body from earlier in the day. It's all still so fresh I try to blot my eyes and memory. We won. That's all that matters.

"I guess this means you should be leaving with your friend?"

"It would probably be a good idea," Weiss says. "Still...I appreciate all that you've done for me, Dolores."

"Oh, child. You needn't worry about that," Dolores waves it off.

"We could definitely use your help come the next crisis, though," Ryan remarks. "There's gonna be a need for more septuagenarians with a twelve-gauge for what's about to come."

"'What's about to come?' Are you maybe suggesting there's more of those awful things out there?" Dolores asks.

"I'd bet on it. Wouldn't you?"

"What makes you so sure?"

Ryan's expression is hard and a bit pensive at the same time. "...call it pattern recognition."

* * *

 _Weiss_

Thankfully, the Grimm seem to have disappeared back into whatever black hole they came from, because we didn't run into any more. We head back to Ryan's cabin, which I assume is somewhere close to where I had been staying with Dolores. Once we're inside, Ryan heads down the hallway, and I take a seat at the dining room table. Honestly, it doesn't look that much different than Dolores's place: wood paneling, lots of "rustic" décor. There's even a stuffed deer head of some sort on the wall, staring at me with one eye in its fixed stare. My father has more than his fair share hanging in his private study.

Ruby follows Ryan down the same hallway, but comes back soon after, wiping at her eyes.

"I'm so glad that's over..." she moans, joining me at the table.

"Agreed," I sigh. "...have you been here this whole time?"

Ruby nods. "Ryan found me yesterday morning. He brought me here and I've been with him ever since."

"And he lives here by himself?"

"No, he was here with his siblings. They're gone now."

"Gone? Did the Grimm-"

"No, they live somewhere else and had to leave. Ryan stayed to help me."

"Have you heard from the others at all?"

She sniffles. "No. You're the only one so far."

No Blake or Yang, either? This whole thing just keeps getting worse. And stranger. But mostly worse. "What about Alvarez? How much does he know about...us?"

"Not a whole lot. I mean, there was that whole time we got arrested because of a fight we got into with another Grimm yesterday-"

"There was more?"

"Just one aside from that first Beowolf. A Tezcatli. We accidentally knocked over a street light with it."

"Ruby..." I sigh. I was afraid she might do something like this eventually, but to do it in a place like this…?

"It's not her fault," Ryan comes back in. He's wearing a different shirt than before, a black one with two pictures of a person doing something, followed by a letter L and accompanied by the words _Eat, Sleep, League_. "I was the one who was responsible for us getting cuffed yesterday."

"What did you do to knock over a street light?"

"I pulled a U-Turn at about sixty miles per hour to throw it off the back off the car. It hitting the street light was purely a twist of fate."

I revise my statement from earlier. I'd rather prefer Ruby's strategy compared to Ryan's.

Ryan, meanwhile, coughs a little and spreads his long arms upwards to arch his back. "Can I get you girls anything? Coffee? Something stronger?"

"Coffee's fine," we both say.

Ryan nods and sets off to do so. He also appears to make hot chocolate for himself. I guess he's not a coffee drinker. It takes a while, but then I see him go into a pill box near the sink. He opens one of the slots and pours something into his hand and then downs it all at once, pulling a face as he does. It's a big one, a seven-by-four container. So not only is he someone with newly-awakened Aura, he's also someone who has to take medication over several times of day?

This man is an enigma. And unfortunately, he's one of only three people in this whole town that I can trust, and probably the only one in this whole town with Aura to protect him from the Grimm.

How could I be expected to work in these conditions?

"Ryan...that thing you mentioned..."

Ryan looks up at what Ruby says, thinking. And then he nods, looking rather...pensive. "Oh. Yeah. That." He sighs, pouring milk into his mug. "Strap in, girls, this one's a doozy."

"What are you two talking about?" I ask.

"He said that he'd tell me why he wasn't afraid of death when I unlocked his Aura if it worked," Ruby explained.

It must be something they were discussing earlier. I look back at Ryan. He takes a seat and takes a sip from his mug, and his eyes go out towards the backyard. "I was up here just over two years ago with my folks. It was right after Christmas, so-"

"Christmas?" Ruby asks.

"It's a big holiday at the end of the year," Ryan explains. "Anyway, it was supposed to be our big snow holiday. We always wanted to have a vacation up where the snow was, because we don't get snow, or...much of any kind of precipitation, really, where we live, so when we heard there was snow we all figured we'd come up here, spend the weekend before everyone had to go back to work and stuff. Now, I'd been kind of...not feeling like myself for what felt like months, but I was still feeling up for it. But...yeah, it was kind of a disaster for me. I couldn't adjust to the altitude to save my life, and the day after we arrived I came down with the worst head cold of my life. Sore throat, stuffy nose, headache, the works. I was miserable.

"So, at the end of it, I just kinda mentioned it to my dad and he was like, 'yeah, it wasn't a good time for you, I can tell. But I think once we get back home and your body normalizes, you'll be fine.'" Ryan shakes his head. "Never did. So, New Year's comes and goes, my birthday comes and goes right after, I'm still feeling bad. In fact, I'm getting worse. Every time I stand up I'm getting tunnel vision, I'm getting tingly in my hands at random times, I'm more lethargic than usual, constantly dehydrated..."

"And you didn't see a doctor at all?" I ask.

"Oh no, I did at the end of the week, because I _knew_ something was up by this point, even if my mom thought it was just because I didn't exercise at all. To be frank, she wasn't wrong..." He takes another sip, then I notice he's got another cup full of pills with him. Ruby's eyes fall on it, too. "So I tell my doctor everything, she kind of looks me in the face, and she says, 'you look a little pale.' And she has me stick around for more tests, and adds, 'I don't think you're crazy. I think you're actually sick with something.'"

"...why on earth would she say something like that? I would think she'd have taken it as read you were sick with something if you'd gone to see her," I ask.

"If you knew my mother, _believe me_ , you'd understand," Ryan says with a mirthless chuckle.

"Yeah. She's kinda scary like that," Ruby nods.

"Moms in general tend to be scary like that. But that's just how they're meant to be."

I clear my throat, sipping at my coffee a little bit. "Please. Continue."

"Anyway. She tests my blood pressure multiple times, she gives me an EKG, nothing really conclusive. She then comes back with a great big sheaf of papers for me and says, 'I need you to get your blood drawn, and I need it done tonight.' Of course I _couldn't_ , because it was 4:30 and I'd never make it to a lab in time before they closed. So they let me do it the following morning. Then, 7:30 in the morning the day after that, I get call from my doctor and she opens with the one thing you never want to hear out of your doctor: _you need to go to the emergency room._ "

"...what?" Ruby asks. "It was that bad?"

"So, being so early in the morning, I start getting out of bed, I'm like mumble mumble grumble something about urgent care. 'No. Not urgent care. ER. I've got your blood tests back, you're seriously anemic.' So (and bear this in mind), I get out of bed, go up the stairs, tell my dad, go back down the stairs, take a shower, get dressed, and we drive to the hospital. After about four hours, they finally explain it to me: a guy my size and age should have a hemoglobin level of twelve to fourteen. I'm currently sitting at a cool six-point-one."

Ruby looks confused. "Uh..."

Frankly, I'm not much better off. I could definitely get the implication of what he was saying, I'm just not sure about what any of what he just said actually meant. "So...that means what exactly?"

"I'll put it like this: the doctors told me, point-blank, 'quite frankly, we're amazed you were still able to walk into the building with it that low.'"

"Ah. Well..." What else _could_ I say at that point?

"It gets worse. They were hoping they could just give me a blood transfusion and send me on my way, but nobody has blood levels that low just from doing whatever. Another doctor later explained I wasn't just low on hemoglobin, it was everything. Platelets, very low. White blood cells, one count's in the pits and another's higher than it should be. This is not normal."

"So they _weren't_ going to give it to you?" asks Ruby.

"Oh no, they were. They were just gonna have to admit me for further tests instead of sending me home. So first thing Monday morning, because pathology doesn't work on weekends apparently, they give me a bone marrow biopsy."

"A what?"

"One of the most painful things I've ever had done to me in my life. Imagine having someone jam a twenty-gauge needle through your butt into your pelvis to extract the stuff inside. I've had six of those since and the first two I had, I wasn't given anesthetic because it was too dangerous with my low blood counts."

Ruby visibly winces, and I feel my toes curl at the thought.

"And the results came in two days later," Ryan sits down at the table with us, staring into his mug. "And that's when I heard three words that changed my life forever: 'acute myleoid leukemia.'"

"Acute mai-lee what now?" asks Ruby.

"Leukemia. A very rare, aggressive cancer of the blood."

"…oh…" It actually takes Ruby a couple of seconds to process it. "Wait. Wait! Hold on! You have _cancer?_ But you're only twenty-eight, right?"

"I know, right? Came right out of the fu…" he stops, then clears his throat. "...blue. I've been quoted as saying just the word alone hits like a ten-pound sledgehammer."

"There's gotta be a cure for it in this world, right? I mean, you guys went to the moon, finding a cure for cancer should be super-duper easy-"

"Nothing straight-up." Ryan shakes his head. "But it's also not the death sentence it used to be forty or fifty years ago. I mean, the day it first came up in conversation, the doctor were also quick to reassure me that treatments for leukemia in particular have advanced really far in the last five years, and he's right. So, over the course of the last year, beyond my six biopsies, I've endured two rounds of chemotherapy, a week of full-body radiation, a bone marrow transplant from Danny-"

"Who?" I ask.

"His little brother," Ruby replies. "Doesn't talk much but he's really nice."

"Spent a combined two months in the hospital, and have since been fighting GVHD in pretty much every orifice in my body. All of that for a sixty-forty chance of beating it."

"...all of that just for a less than a two-in-three chance?" I ask.

"I've been told the sixty-forty thing isn't necessarily victory or death. The sixty is basically all best possible outcomes: a lot of things can still happen, but it still ends with me on top. The other forty is everything else: rejection, debilitating injury, and, yes, death. Currently, my current major threat right now is relapse. Right now the leukemia's in remission. Basically, it's been rendered inactive by everything we threw at it, but there is still a risk it could reactivate. But, if I make it five years without relapsing more than once or maybe twice, depending on the circumstances, then I win. They declare me 'cured,' and basically say it'll likely never reappear again."

Ruby's becomes very quiet. She's trying to take everything in, and she doesn't like it at all. Ryan takes another sip, trying to think of something to say. He eventually leans back, closing one eye in an almost rakish manner, but his expression was anything but. "Ruby. I wasn't kidding when I said I saw death. My first night in the hospital, I swear on a stack of Bibles I saw a hooded figure in the hallway, in a great big black cloak, armed with the wickedest scythe you'd ever seen. I only saw him for a moment, and I thought I saw him charge at me, but when I blinked, he was gone. And the thing I saw? It was a cup of water on my bedside table, with a straw in, obscured by the lights from the hallway.

"I couldn't deal with it. I just broke down and cried. Mom didn't even know why, and she was in the room with me. I never told her what I saw, not even once. I don't think I've told anyone outside of you and Weiss. But you know what? I'm twenty-eight years old and I've already had to grapple with a lot of things I really didn't want to at this point in my life: fear of death. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the end. And most of all...just the point of wondering what the bluish flaming hell I've been doing with my life up until now."

Ryan puts his mug down, his open eye distant and yet focused on something only he could see. There's an odd sense of determination, different than what I'd seen before at the firewood store. It was the kind of grim resolve, the fighting spirit of a man otherwise doomed to die. "But you know what? Life's too short spent worrying about something I will never know until the day of. There's a lot to look forward to...I say let the good times roll."

A rather heavy silence falls between us before Ryan looks down at his watch, trying to fill the void. "Right! I'm gonna get started on dinner, if'n you don't mind..."

* * *

 _Ruby_

It's almost midnight.

I can't sleep.

It's just really, _really_ hard to get rid of the image Ryan bleeding out that I can still see every time I close my eyes. The time I spent trying to find that third Beowolf seems like a blur of just looking around, trying to follow the sounds of sirens and screaming until I got to where I was. The only thing I remember after all of that was Ryan carrying me and talking with Weiss.

And then he goes and drops a bombshell, saying he's got cancer.

And there's no cure for it here, either.

I pull my quilt a bit closer.

I really wish Yang was here. I know she's out there, no doubt looking for me, but I really need her here right now, just so I can feel like it's not just me and Weiss against the world. This stupid crazy world we've fallen into.

A shadow moves. I see something reaching out from the darkness of the hallway. I remember what Ryan was saying about death being a hooded figure standing in the doorway. By instinct I start reaching for Crescent Rose, which is against the bedpost next to me, and it retreats just as quickly. But then I happen to look at the bedside table.

There's some cookies resting on a napkin there.

Chocolate chip.

And then I hear Ryan's voice outside. "Good night, Turbo."

Danny did say Ryan was trying to reach out to people since he got sick before he left with Sarah and Regan. I guess as much as I'm trying to reach out for my missing sister and my other teammate, somewhere out in infinity, he's been doing the same thing for, well, anyone, really, and we just kind of ended up crossing paths.

That doesn't quite strike me as coincidence.

And so as I eat my cookies in the darkness, I make a solemn promise to myself.

I'm gonna help Ryan out any way I can.

Because I think he needs me as much as I need him.


End file.
